Top Items:
New York Times:
Trump Administration Live Updates: Johnson Shutting Down House Early to Block Epstein Vote — Where Things Stand — Epstein case: Speaker Mike Johnson said he would shut the House down early for its summer recess to head off Democratic demands for votes on calling for the release of files …
RELATED:
emptywheel:
Trump's Defense Attorney Todd Blanche Will Meet with Sex Trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell to Make a Deal for His Client — Trump Defense Attorney Todd Blanche and Pam Bondi just announced that Blanche will meet with Ghislaine Maxwell and discuss potential cooperation deals with her.
Discussion:
ABC News, Raw Story, USA Today, Washington Examiner, Daily Mail, New York Daily News, CNN, The National Pulse, The Hill, New Jersey Online, Mediaite and Israpundit
Avery Lotz / Axios:
Deputy Attorney General seeking meeting with Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell
Discussion:
NBC News, CBS News, UPI, Raw Story, New Republic, Blaze Media, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, Forbes, NewsMax.com, TMZ.com and Florida Politics
Andrew Solender / Axios:
GOP's latest Epstein drama: House panel to subpoena Ghislaine Maxwell
GOP's latest Epstein drama: House panel to subpoena Ghislaine Maxwell
Discussion:
New York Times, Washington Examiner, USA Today, MSNBC, New York Post, IJR, NewsMax.com, The Independent and Daily Mail
William Kristol / The Bulwark:
Why the Epstein Coverup Matters — Jeffrey Epstein damage control continues at the Justice Department, with Pam Bondi announcing this morning that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche is seeking a prosecutorial interview with Epsitein's co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Discussion:
CNN, One America News Network, Off Message and Mediaite
RELATED:
Malcolm Ferguson / New Republic:
Trump Flips Out at Republican Lawmaker Exposing the Party on Epstein — President Trump is excoriating another one of his own party members for asking him for basic transparency on the Jeffrey Epstein case. — Representative Thomas Massie, who filed a bipartisan discharge petition …
Discussion:
The Hill, New Jersey Online, Daily Mail, The Daily Caller, Raw Story, NewsMax.com, Fox News and The Free Press
Meredith Lee Hill / Politico:
House GOP leaders grapple for way out of Epstein crisis — House Republicans have lost control of the floor over their Jeffrey Epstein blow-up, and they're struggling to chart a path out of the crisis. GOP leaders are talking with Trump administration officials, searching for ways …
NBC News:
House cancels its last day of votes before summer break as Epstein consumes Capitol Hill — Speaker Mike Johnson expressed unusual frustration with fellow Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, who is working with Democrats to force the release of the Epstein files.
Discussion:
Axios, Politico, Washington Examiner, CNBC, Washington Post, New York Sun, Puck, The Gateway Pundit, New York Daily News, Breitbart and CBS News
Punchbowl News:
Epstein mess freezes the House — again
Discussion:
Politico, MSNBC, The Hill, PoliticusUSA, MeidasTouch News and Washington Examiner
Axios:
House grinds to a halt as GOP tries to shut down Epstein votes
House grinds to a halt as GOP tries to shut down Epstein votes
Discussion:
Politico, CBS News, CNN, Associated Press, Washington Examiner and Reason
Associated Press:
Speaker Johnson refuses to allow Epstein vote as House set to recess early
Speaker Johnson refuses to allow Epstein vote as House set to recess early
Discussion:
New York Times and The Hill
Politico:
House Republicans at standstill over Epstein drama
House Republicans at standstill over Epstein drama
Discussion:
The Hill, Democrats and emptywheel
Diana Nerozzi / New York Post:
Trump to pull US out of UNESCO over DEI policies, pro-Palestinian, pro-China tilt — WASHINGTON — President Trump is pulling the US out of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), citing its anti-America and anti-Israel leanings as well as its woke agenda, The Post has learned.
Discussion:
Washington Examiner, NewsNation, Al Jazeera, RedState, Human Events, HuffPost, IJR, CBS News, Associated Press, Semafor and Newsweek
RELATED:
Barak Ravid / Axios:
U.S. again withdraws from UNESCO, citing anti-Israel bias and “woke” causes
Discussion:
Fox News, Washington Post, Politico, USA Today, Scripps News, Reuters, UPI, Townhall, Bloomberg, Daily Mail, The National Pulse, Rolling Out and israelhayom.com
Aurelien Breeden / New York Times:
U.S. Says It Will Withdraw From U.N. Cultural Organization, Again
U.S. Says It Will Withdraw From U.N. Cultural Organization, Again
Discussion:
Axios, Financial Times, The Guardian, RTÉ, Associated Press and Reuters
Dan De Luce / NBC News:
Trump's intelligence chiefs try to rewrite the history of the 2016 election — Five years ago, Marco Rubio said there was “irrefutable evidence of Russian meddling.” Now, Tulsi Gabbard says that claim is “treasonous” and should be criminally investigated.
Discussion:
New York Post, Washington Examiner, The Federalist, RedState, Washington Times, NPR, IJR, Newsweek, American Thinker, HuffPost, NewsNation, CBS News, American Greatness, Townhall, Mediaite, HotAir, twitchy.com, The Bulwark and Fox News
RELATED:
Glenn Kessler / Washington Post:
Tulsi Gabbard's ‘seditious conspiracy’ claim is based on thin gruel
Tulsi Gabbard's ‘seditious conspiracy’ claim is based on thin gruel
Discussion:
Newsbusters, The Dispatch, Raw Story, The Federalist, Mother Jones, New York Post and One America News Network
David Folkenflik / NPR:
NPR news chief announces she's leaving days after Congress kills federal funding — NPR's editor in chief and acting chief content officer Edith Chapin told colleagues Tuesday morning that she has decided to step down. — The veteran news leader's announcement comes just days …
Discussion:
New York Times, The Hill, New York Post, Deadline, Fox News, Washington Examiner, NewsMax.com and New York Sun, more at Mediagazer »
Gabe Cohen / CNN:
FEMA search and rescue chief resigns after frustration with Texas flood response — The head of FEMA's Urban Search and Rescue branch, which runs a network of teams stationed across the country that can swiftly respond to natural disasters, resigned on Monday.
Discussion:
MSNBC, Media Matters for America and NOTUS
David Gilbert / Wired:
Everything Is a ‘False Flag’ Now — Conspiracy theories about so-called false flag attacks have been around for decades. But as trust in media and public institutions craters, every single major news event is now being labeled as fake. — As President Donald Trump struggles to contain …
Ankush Khardori / Politico:
Trump's WSJ Lawsuit Raises a New Constitutional Question … The president can sue you, but you can't sue him. — It seems like an absurd thing to say but that's effectively the reality of our legal system today, one that has become increasingly alarming during Donald Trump's second term.
Discussion:
MSNBC
Alice Speri / The Guardian:
Revealed: Harvard publisher cancels entire journal issue on Palestine shortly before publication — As Harvard's feud with Trump escalated, so did tensions over an ‘education and Palestine’ issue of a prestigious journal. Scholars blame the ‘Palestine exception’ to academic freedom
NBC News:
White House faces backlash after booting The Wall Street Journal from Scotland media coverage plans — The move comes after The Wall Street Journal reported President Donald Trump sent Jeffrey Epstein a birthday card in 2003 with a drawing of a naked woman.
Paul Krugman:
Has Brazil Invented the Future of Money? — And will it ever come to America? — Last week the House passed the GENIUS Act, which will boost the growth of stablecoins, thereby paving the way for future scams and financial crises. On Thursday the House also passed a bill that would bar …
Discussion:
Financial Times and Crypto Briefing
Peter Eavis / New York Times:
American Steel Just Got More Expensive. Buyers Blame Tariffs. — Steel producers like Cleveland Cliffs and Steel Dynamics both said this week that they raised prices after President Trump imposed a 50 percent tariff on imports. — American steel makers are raising prices …
Jason Beeferman / Politico:
Zohran's Bronx Science tales — MAMDANI PLAYS HOOKY: He's just like us. He got detention. He cut class to get lunch. He says he's bad at math. — Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani graduated from the public, test-in, competitive Bronx Science High School in 2010.
Walter Olson / The UnPopulist:
A Manhattan Institute Manifesto Would Give this President Sweeping Power to Force University Compliance with Right-Wing Demands — Many persons I'd think would know better have affixed their names to a new and highly illiberal set of demands on colleges and universities.
Filip Timotija / The Hill:
Coca-Cola confirms it will launch cane sugar version in US amid Trump ‘enthusiasm’ — Coca-Cola Company confirmed on Tuesday that it will launch a cane sugar version of its iconic drink in the U.S. amid President Trump's “enthusiasm,” coming less than a week after the president revealed the change on social media.
Discussion:
The Independent, New York Daily News, Mediaite, KARE-TV, The Guardian, Fox Business, The Daily Caller and Fingerlakes1.com
RELATED:
Ben Berkowitz / Axios:
Coca-Cola to launch cane sugar soda in fall after Trump demand
G. Elliott Morris / Strength In Numbers:
New poll: Democrats lead House generic ballot; deportations unpopular; Musk party flops — Summary of main poll findings: — Americans remain deeply dissatisfied with the political status quo and increasingly pessimistic about the nation's direction, according to the July Strength In Numbers/Verasight poll.
Discussion:
New Jersey Online, USA Today and Political Wire
Ian Millhiser / Vox:
The conservative case against Trump's worst judicial nominee — Senate Republicans are taking an enormous risk with the federal bench right now. … Emil Bove is one of President Donald Trump's former criminal defense lawyers. He's now a senior Justice Department official …
Discussion:
Talking Points Memo and NPR
The Coca-Cola Company:
Coca-Cola Reports Second Quarter 2025 Results and Updates Full Year Guidance — Comparable Currency Neutral Operating Income (Non-GAAP) Grew 15% — Operating Margin was 34.1% versus 21.3% in the Prior Year; — Comparable Operating Margin (Non-GAAP) was 34.7% versus 32.8% in the Prior Year
Discussion:
USA Today, NPR, New York Post, New York Magazine, Washington Post, UPI, New York Sun, Eater, MPR News, Associated Press, CBS News and NewsMax.com
Samantha Hancox-Li / Liberal Currents:
We Need to Talk About Pedocon Theory — Voice Over: There must be more to life than having everything … I would prefer here a precise accounting of Jeffrey Epstein's history of pedophilia. Unfortunately, much remains unknown. What we can say is that over a period of decades he groomed …
Jonathan Chait / The Atlantic:
What Trump's Feud With Jerome Powell Is Really About — Donald Trump has been bullying Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell—calling him “too late,” insulting his intelligence, and trying to gin up a case that Powell spent too much on renovations of the agency's headquarters as a pretext for firing him.
Discussion:
Newsweek, Al Jazeera and Boston Herald
Elizabeth Williamson / New York Times:
Big Law Firms Bowed to Trump. A Corps of ‘Little Guys’ Jumped in to Fight Him. — Solo practitioners, former government litigators and small law offices stepped up to help challenge the Trump administration's agenda in court after the White House sought to punish many big firms.
Discussion:
Above the Law
Tony Romm / New York Times:
White House Leads Push to Block Watchdog's Inquiries Into Spending Cuts — Republicans are seeking to undermine the Government Accountability Office as it investigates, and considers suing, over the Trump administration's withholding federal funds. — A federal watchdog has opened dozens …
Christine Peterson / Vox:
Your favorite national park is struggling to survive — What budget cuts mean for wildlife, climate monitoring — and surviving peak tourism. … Stories of struggle flow unceasingly from our public lands — here, a senior botanist pulled from invasive species removal to check campgrounds …
Discussion:
New York Times and Roll Call
Fox News:
Louisville mayor shifts city's immigration policy after legal threat from DOJ — The mayor of Louisville, Kentucky, informed the Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday that he is shifting the city's more restrictive policy on federal immigration detainers after the government warned it would sue over it.
Discussion:
WAVE-TV, NewsMax.com, Newsweek and The Post Millennial
Stephen Neukam / Axios:
Scoop: Lawmakers press Musk on Grok's antisemitic language — A bipartisan group of lawmakers are demanding answers from Elon Musk after his AI platform, Grok, repeatedly used antisemitic language on X. … - Over a dozen lawmakers sent a letter, first obtained by Axios …
Discussion:
PC Gamer and NewsMax.com

