Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a016.47 EDT<\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n Trump says Intel has agreed to give US government a 10% stake<\/p>\n The US government has taken an unprecedented 10% stake in Intel in a deal with the struggling chipmaker and is planning more such moves, according to Donald Trump and commerce secretary Howard Lutnick, the latest extraordinary intervention by the White House in corporate America.<\/p>\n Lutnick wrote on X: \u201cBIG NEWS: The United States of America now owns 10% of Intel<\/a>, one of our great American technology companies. Thanks to Intel CEO @LipBuTan1 for striking a deal that\u2019s fair to Intel and fair to the American People.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump met with Lip-Bu Tan on Friday and posed for a photo with Lutnick. The development follows a meeting between Tan and Trump earlier this month that was sparked by the US president\u2019s demand for the Intel chief\u2019s resignation over his ties to Chinese firms.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the full story:<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a018.12 EDT<\/p>\n The Internal Revenue Service has halted planned layoffs and is offering jobs back to some employees who previously took the so-called \u201cfork in the road\u201d<\/a> that encouraged staffers to take a buyout as the agency scrambles to boost staffing ahead of tax season, Axios reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Department of Government Efficiency\u2019s (Doge) early days made headlines for targeting masses of government workers with layoffs and pushing others to resign.<\/p>\n But the IRS is now reversing course, joining other federal agencies, either rehiring terminated workers or pulling back on \u201creduction in force\u201d plans.<\/p>\n In February, the IRS laid off roughly 7,000 workers<\/a> in Washington and around the country.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Donald Trump announced that he named Sergio Gor to be the next US ambassador to India and special envoy for South and Central Asian affairs, according to a post<\/a> on Truth Social.<\/p>\n Gor is currently the director of the White House presidential personnel office, and is slated to remain in that position until his confirmation.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the most populous Region in the World, it is important that I have someone I can fully trust to deliver on my Agenda and help us, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,\u201d Trump wrote on Friday.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a017.35 EDT<\/p>\n Carol Alvarado, a Texas Democratic senator from Houston, says she intends to filibuster tonight in the Texas senate to delay Republicans<\/a> from passing a redrawn congressional map.<\/p>\n \u201cRepublicans think they can walk all over us. Today I\u2019m going to kick back.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve submitted my intention to filibuster the new congressional maps. Going to be a long night,\u201d she wrote in a post on X, accompanied by a picture of sneakers<\/a>.<\/p>\n Democrats have gone back and forth with Phil King, the bill\u2019s GOP sponsor, since this morning, trying to get him to admit that he considered race in drawing the maps.<\/p>\n The local television station KVUE has more on the rules Alvarado will have to follow as she filibusters the new congressional map.<\/p>\n Alvarado will not be able to eat or drink and must stand at her desk the whole time without breaks for the bathroom, the outlet reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a017.36 EDT<\/p>\n The national guard personnel deployed on the streets of Washington DC will now be armed, a defense official confirmed to The Guardian.<\/p>\n Defense secretary Pete Hegseth authorized the nearly 2,000 of the national guard members to carry \u201cservice-issued weapons,\u201d the official said.<\/p>\n Members of the Mississippi National Guard cross 14th Street on the National Mall after Donald Trump deployed the National Guard and ordered an increased presence of federal law enforcement to assist in crime prevention in Washington DC. (REUTERS\/Al Drago)<\/p>\n \u201cThe Interim Commanding General of the D.C. National Guard retains the authority to make any necessary force posture adjustments in coordination with the D.C. Metropolitan Police and Federal law enforcement partners,\u201d said the defense official.<\/p>\n The Pentagon and the US army had said last week that troops would not carry weapons.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n In a Truth Social post<\/a>, President Donald Trump announced that his administration is undergoing a \u201cmajor tariff investigation\u201d into imported furniture and is expected to release its findings within 50 days.<\/p>\n Trump said the US will impose tariffs (at a rate still to be determined) on foreign-made furniture, in efforts to revive the industry in states including North Carolina, South Carolina, and Michigan.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Defense secretary Pete Hegseth fired \u200b\u200bLt Gen Jeffrey A Kruse\u200b, the military\u2019s top intelligence officer. The Washington Post first reported the story<\/a>.<\/p>\n Kruse, who served as Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) director, is the second senior Air Force general in a week to be forced out or retire unexpectedly. On Monday, Air Force chief of staff Gen David Allvin announced he was stepping down<\/a> after just two years in the role, a position typically held for four years.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the DIA told CBS News<\/a> that deputy director Christine Bordine will assume the role of acting director \u201ceffective immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe firing of yet another senior national security official underscores the Trump administration\u2019s dangerous habit of treating intelligence as a loyalty test rather than a safeguard for our country,\u201d said senator Mark Warner, vice chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n The firing comes a few months after details of the agency\u2019s preliminary assessment of damage to Iranian nuclear sites from US strikes leaked to the media. It found that Iran\u2019s nuclear program has been set back only a few months by the US strikes, contradicting assertions from Trump and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a017.37 EDT<\/p>\n Initial takeaways of Ghislaine Maxwell’s interview transcripts<\/p>\n The transcripts are more than 300 pages, but here it goes \u2026<\/p>\n Blanche said, on record, that their conversation wasn\u2019t \u201cpromising to do anything\u201d for Maxwell. But that anything she said couldn\u2019t be used against her, unless she provided false statements or there was a retrial in her case.<\/p>\n According to Maxwell, Epstein didn\u2019t have any video or photographic evidence of any high-profile individuals committing sexual offences. And to that point, Maxwell said she didn\u2019t hear or witness any instances of Epstein blackmailing powerful people.<\/p>\n Maxwell recruited a number of masseuses for Epstein but \u201cnever checked their age or credentials\u201d. She added that, throughout her time with Epstein, she never heard any examples of \u201csexually inappropriate contact\u201d between Epstein\u2019s guests and in-house masseuses.<\/p>\n Despite her claims that Epstein didn\u2019t extort anyone, Maxwell does not believe that Epstein died by suicide. She chalked that up to \u201cmismanagement\u201d at the bureau of prisons.<\/p>\n In the interview Maxwell said she does believe that Epstein \u201cdid a lot of, not all, but some of what he\u2019s accused of\u201d. But she maintains that \u201che became that man over a period of time\u201d.<\/p>\n Maxwell said that she \u201cnever\u201d saw Donald Trump receive a massage. She also said that she \u201cnever witnessed the president in any inappropriate setting in any way,\u201d adding that he was \u201ca gentleman in all respects\u201d whenever she saw the president.<\/p>\n Maxwell also didn\u2019t recall former president Bill Clinton receiving a massage while travelling with Epstein.<\/p>\n One notable point is that Maxwell denied ever recruiting masseuses from Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago club. \u201cI\u2019ve never recruited a masseuse from Mar-a-Lago for that, as far as I remember. I can\u2019t ever recollect doing that,\u201d she told Todd Blanche. A reminder that Trump claimed his falling out with Jeffrey Epstein stemmed from the convicted sex offender\u2019s efforts to hire workers away from Trump\u2019s Florida club.<\/p>\n Maxwell did not remember whether Trump submitted a letter for Epstein\u2019s 50th birthday album, as reported<\/a> by the Wall Street Journal. She also couldn\u2019t remember asking Trump to contribute.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a016.47 EDT<\/p>\n Ghislaine Maxwell says Trump and Epstein seemed ‘friendly’ but she ‘never’ saw president receive a massage<\/p>\n In Ghislaine Maxwell\u2019s first interview with deputy attorney general Todd Blanche, on 24 July, she said that she \u201cmay have met\u201d Donald Trump<\/a> in 1990, before meeting Jeffrey Epstein.<\/p>\n Maxwell went on to describe the relationship between the president and Epstein as \u201cfriendly\u201d, although she didn\u2019t know how the two men met or how they became friends.<\/p>\n She added that she \u201cnever\u201d saw the president receive a massage:<\/p>\n I actually never saw the president in any type of massage setting. I never witnessed the president in any inappropriate setting in any way. The president was never inappropriate with anybody. In the times that I was with him, he was a gentleman in all respects.<\/p>\n Maxwell also contested Trump\u2019s claims she recruited masseuses from Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago estate. \u201cI\u2019ve never recruited a masseuse from Mar-a-Lago for that, as far as I remember. I can\u2019t ever recollect doing that,\u201d she said in the interview with Blanche.<\/p>\n A reminder that the president said in July that his falling out with Jeffrey Epstein stemmed from the convicted sex offender\u2019s efforts to hire workers away from Trump\u2019s Florida club. \u201cPeople were taken out of the spa, hired by him, in other words, gone,\u201d the president said.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a016.40 EDT<\/p>\n Justice department releases transcripts of Ghislaine Maxwell interview with deputy attorney general<\/p>\n The Department of Justice has released the transcripts and audio recordings of the interviews between Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend of child sex-offender Jefrrey Epstein, and the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche.<\/p>\n The interviews between Blanche and Maxwell took place on 24 and 25 July 2025, with her legal representatives present. Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence for child sex trafficking.<\/p>\n The justice department will also send the first tranche of records from the Jeffrey Epstein investigation to the House oversight committee, after receiving a subpoena for the files. Earlier this week, the committee chair, Representative James Comer, a Republican, said that his aim is to make the files public \u2013\u00a0while protecting the safety and identities of the victims.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a015.22 EDT<\/p>\n US court orders release of Kilmar \u00c1brego Garc\u00eda from criminal custody<\/p>\n Maya Yang<\/p>\n A court has ordered the release of Kilmar \u00c1brego Garc\u00eda<\/a> from criminal custody in Tennessee.<\/p>\n On Friday, magistrate judge Barbara Holmes issued an order allowing the Maryland father of two to leave custody for the first time since his return to the US in June, after his wrongful deportation to El Salvador earlier this year.<\/p>\n The 30-year-old was initially wrongfully deported by federal immigration officials in March. According to the Trump administration<\/a>, \u00c1brego was affiliated with the MS-13 gang, a claim \u00c1brego and his family vehemently deny.<\/p>\n During his detention at El Salvador\u2019s so-called Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot), \u00c1brego was physically and psychologically tortured, according to<\/a> court documents filed by his lawyers in July.<\/p>\n Following \u00c1brego\u2019s wrongful deportation, the Trump administration<\/a> faced widespread pressure to return him back to the US, including from a supreme court order that directed federal officials to \u201cfacilitate\u201d his return.<\/p>\n In June, the Trump administration returned<\/a> \u00c1brego from El Salvador, only to hit him with a slew of human smuggling charges, which his lawyers have rejected as \u201cpreposterous\u201d. His criminal trial is expected to begin in January.<\/p>\n Kilmar \u00c1brego Garc\u00eda. Photograph: Abrego Garcia Family\/ReutersShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a014.44 EDT<\/p>\n An update from the Texas senate, where Molly Cook, a Democratic lawmaker from Houston, is now questioning Phil King about the new Texas map.<\/p>\n Her line of questioning appears designed to highlight that the senator is not completely blind to race in Texas. She points out that he\u2019s likely done polling in his own races that breaks down results by race and has analysed other statewide racial data as part of his job as a legislator.<\/p>\n \u201cI have not drilled into racial data with regard to redistricting,\u201d King says.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a014.34 EDT<\/p>\n When asked about the ongoing discussions about a possible bilateral meeting between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president said it will be \u201cinteresting to see\u201d whether that goes ahead.<\/p>\n Earlier he explained his decision to let the two leaders have a meeting together: \u201cI could have been at the meeting, but a lot of people think that nothing\u2019s going to come out of that meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump went on to say that he\u2019ll know \u201cone way or the other\u201d about his next steps in two weeks. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be a very important decision. And that\u2019s whether or not it\u2019s massive sanctions or massive tariffs, or both, or do we do nothing and say \u2018it\u2019s your fight,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Earlier the president said he was \u201cnot happy\u201d when asked about a US factory being hit during a Russian strike in Ukraine.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a014.34 EDT<\/p>\n Trump confirms funding request to Congress for DC ‘beautification’<\/p>\n The president just confirmed that he has spoken with the House speaker, Mike Johnson, and the Senate majority leader, John Thune, about a plan to raise $2bn from Congress to help fund his \u2018beautification\u2019 plans for DC.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s going to be very easy to get it\u2019s going to be not a lot of money. I wouldn\u2019t even know where to spend the number that you mentioned, but it\u2019s going to be money to beautify the city,\u201d he said in response to a reporter\u2019s question in the Oval Office.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a014.17 EDT<\/p>\n President says he ‘purposefully’ didn’t get involved in Bolton raid<\/p>\n![\"Sam](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Sam_Levine_Next_Gen.png\")
Sam Levine<\/p>\nSam Levine<\/p>\n