Judge blocks effort to defund Planned Parenthood and says it must continue to get Medicaid funds
A judge has blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to defund Planned Parenthood and orders that it keep getting Medicaid funds.
A federal judge ruled today that Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide must continue to be reimbursed for Medicaid funding as the nation’s largest abortion provider fights Trump’s administration over efforts to defund the organization in his signature tax legislation.
Planned Parenthood had sued the Trump administration earlier this month over the provision in Trump’s sweeping domestic policy bill that would strip funding from health centers operated by the reproductive healthcare and abortion provider.
“The true design of the Defund Provision is simply to express disapproval of, attack, and punish Planned Parenthood, which plays a particularly prominent role in the public debate over abortion,” Planned Parenthood said in its lawsuit.
Key events
Donald Trump has asked a US judge to order a swift deposition for billionaire Rupert Murdoch in the president’s defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal over its 17 July article about Trump’s relationship with the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, reports Reuters.
Dropped cases against LA protesters reveal false claims from federal agents
Sam Levine
US immigration officers made false and misleading statements in their reports about several Los Angeles protesters they arrested during the massive demonstrations that rocked the city in June, according to federal law enforcement files obtained by the Guardian.
The officers’ testimony was cited in at least five cases filed by the US Department of Justice amid the unrest. The justice department has charged at least 26 people with “assaulting” and “impeding” federal officers and other crimes during the protests over immigration raids. Prosecutors, however, have since been forced to dismiss at least eight of those felonies, many of them which relied on officers’ inaccurate reports, court records show.
The justice department has also dismissed at least three felony assault cases it brought against Angelenos accused of interfering with arrests during recent immigration raids, the documents show.
The rapid felony dismissals are a major embarrassment for the Trump-appointed US attorney for southern California, Bill Essayli, and appeared to be the result of an unusual series of missteps by the justice department, former federal prosecutors said.
The Guardian’s review of records found:
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Out of nine “assault” and “impeding” felony cases the justice department filed immediately after the start of the protests and promoted by the attorney general, Pam Bondi, prosecutors dismissed seven of them soon after filing the charges.
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In reports that led to the detention and prosecution of at least five demonstrators, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents made false statements about the sequence of events and misrepresented incidents captured on video.
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One DHS agent accused a protester of shoving an officer, when footage appeared to show the opposite: the officer forcefully pushed the protester.
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One indictment named the wrong defendant, a stunning error that has jeopardized one of the government’s most high-profile cases.
Trump claims he hasn’t been ‘overly interested’ in furor about his links to Jeffrey Epstein
Asked about his denials that his name appears in the Epstein files and whether the attorney general would have to tell him if it did, Donald Trump said he hadn’t been “overly interested” in the whole affair and, as usual, blamed the Democrats.
I haven’t been overly interested.
You know, it’s a hoax that’s been built up way beyond proportion. I can say this. Those files were run by the worst scum on earth … The whole thing is a hoax. They ran the files.
He suggested that his enemies could have put material in the files that was fake, and added that if the Democrats had had damaging material to use against him, they would have used it before the election.
Referring to the Wall Street Journal’s report that he drew a picture of a nude woman as part of a lewd birthday letter for Jeffrey Epstein when they were close friends, Trump said:
I don’t do drawings. I’m not a drawing person. I don’t do drawings. Sometimes you would say, would you draw a building? And I’ll draw four lines and a little roof, you know, for a charity stuff. But I’m not a drawing person. I don’t do drawings of women, that I can tell you.
He also claimed his poll ratings had increased by 4.5 points since this “ridiculous Epstein stuff” has been in the news “because people don’t buy it”. (He is of course ignoring the fact that much of the criticism and pressure has come from his own furious support base and even the likes of House speaker Mike Johnson have called for the release of the files).
Trump claims nobody has approached him about giving Ghislaine Maxwell a pardon
Asked if he would consider giving Ghislaine Maxwell a pardon, Donald Trump said:
Nobody’s approached me with it. Nobody’s asked me about it. It’s in the news about that, that aspect of it, but right now, it would be inappropriate to talk about it.
Talking and negotiation ‘most sensible’ option for securing hostages in Gaza, says Trump
Asked what the “various plans” are that he earlier referred to for securing the remaining hostages, which he said he had been discussing with Benjamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump said “there are a couple of alternatives, some of them are very strong”.
“The most sensible alternative is talking and negotiation,” he said.
He then added that talking would be more difficult now as there weren’t as many hostages left because Hamas had been using them as a shield.
I said … the number’s going to be at a point where you’re not going to be able to get them back, unless you’re going to be very energetic, or to put it a different way, unless you’re going to be very ruthless, violent.
Donald Trump continues his criticism of Fed chair Jerome Powell, saying, “a smart person would cut [interest rates]”.
“You know he leaves very soon,” he added of Powell. “I’ll miss him greatly.” (Powell’s tenure as chair is due to end in May 2026, the president has mused many times about wanting him gone before that.)
‘He’s got to make a deal,’ Trump tells Putin as he threatens to use secondary tariffs on Russia
Jakub Krupa
Asked if he thought Vladimir Putin had lied to him about his commitment to a ceasefire in Ukraine, Donald Trump said he wouldn’t say “lie” but there were times when they had had a good talk, and he thought Putin might agree to a ceasefire, but then nothing happened. He said this had happened too often, and he didn’t like it.
Well, I don’t want to use the word lying. [But] it seemed on, let’s say three occasions, [we were close to] a ceasefire and maybe peace, and you divide it up and you do whatever you have to do, obviously, to get to the end. And all of a sudden missiles are flying into Kyiv and other places. And I say, what’s that all about? You know this has happened on too many occasions, I don’t like it.
He then repeated his threat of sanctions and secondary tariffs on Russia “unless we make a deal”, even as he says “I don’t want to do that to Russia, I love the Russian people, great people”. He said of Putin:
He’s got to make a deal. Too many people are dying.
Asked again about his new 10-12 days deadline, he said he would confirm the exact timing “tonight or tomorrow”.
There is no reason to wait. If you know what the answer is going to be, why wait?
Asked if he felt Putin respected him personally, Trump said he’d “always got along with president Putin” and “had a great relationship with him”, even if he was “tough” on him.
I thought we’d be able to negotiate something. Maybe that’ll still happen, but it’s very late down the process. I’m disappointed.
He then said that Russia had “massive” land is “could be so rich” and “thriving like practically no other country,” but “instead they spend all of their money on war and killing people”.
He added:
I’m not so interested in talking any more.
Trump says the US will set up ‘food centres’ in Gaza
Tom Ambrose
Trump said the US will set up “food centres” in Gaza, without elaborating on what this would actually mean in practice. He did acknowledge that starvation across the territory is real. Addressing the media alongside Keir Starmer in Scotland, the US president said:
We’re going to set up food centres and we’re going to do it in conjunction with some very good people and supply funds and we just took in trillions of dollars.
We’ve got a lot of money and we’re going to spend a little money on some food and other nations are joining us, I know your nation’s joining us, and we have all of the European nations joining us.
Trump has described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as “terrible” and has blamed Hamas for the “mess” in the territory and for the failed ceasefire talks.
But he rarely openly criticises his close ally, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose war he fuels by providing him with money and sheltering Israel on the diplomatic stage.
He said earlier that he was speaking to Netanyahu about getting back the remaining hostages, and said they are talking about “various plans”.
Earlier, when he was saying much the same on the doorstep with Starmer, he said:
I told Bibi that you’re going to have to now maybe do it a different way.
Starmer says UK’s Online Safety Act will not censor Trump’s Truth Social social media company
Andrew Sparrow
Asked if he’s worried the UK’s Online Safety Act is going to censor Truth Social, Trump jokes that he does not think that is likely.
Starmer says the act is not about censoring sites. He says the UK is committed to free speech. But children should be protected from things like suicide sites.
Trump says Congress passed similar legislation, supported by his wife. He goes on:
I cannot imagine him censoring Truth Social … I only say good things about him and his country.
Trump gives Russia ’10 or 12′ days to move on Ukraine as ‘no progress made’
Donald Trump said his new deadline for Russia over its war in Ukraine would be “about 10 or 12 days from today”.
“I’m going to make a new deadline, of about 10, 10 or 12 days from day. There’s no reason in waiting. It was 50 days, I wanted to be generous, but we just don’t see any progress being made.”
Trump claims he has stopped six wars around world
Donald Trump just claimed he’s stopped six wars. “I’m averaging about a war a month,” he boasted.
He refers to India and Pakistan, and Congo and Rwanda, but it’t not clear what the other wars he supposedly ended are.
The British prime minister Keir Starmer and Donald Trump are speaking again now at Turnberry golf course.
You can follow along live below.
Further to my previous post, Donald Trump the number one priority in Gaza was getting people fed, because “you have a lot of starving people”, adding that he was not going to take a position on Palestinian statehood at the moment.
Speaking alongside British prime minister Keir Starmer at his golf resort in Turnberry, Scotland, said the United States had provided $60m for humanitarian aid, and other nations would have to step up.
He said he discussed the issue with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen yesterday, and she told him European countries would step up their assistance very substantially. He said he also planned to discuss the humanitarian situation with Starmer during today’s visit.
Trump said he would not comment on a push by French president Emmanuel Macron to back Palestinian statehood.
Trump also criticized the Hamas militant group for not agreeing to release more hostages, living and dead, and said he had told Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel’s approach would probably have to change.
“I told Bibi that you have to maybe do it a different way,” Trump said, echoing similar comments made on Sunday.
Asked if a ceasefire was still possible, Trump said: “Yeah, a ceasefire is possible, but you have to get it, you have to end it.” He did not elaborate on what he meant.
Donald Trump also said he was reducing the 50-day deadline he gave Russia over its war in Ukraine, saying he was disappointed in Vladimir Putin.
“I’m disappointed in President Putin,” he said. “I’m going to reduce that 50 days that I gave him to a lesser number.” He did not give a new deadline.
Donald Trump has said that the European Union is going to send more aid to help Gaza and that he plans to ask British prime minister Keir Starmer to help.
Trump, speaking alongside Starmer in Scotland, also said he had told Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that his fight in Gaza against Hamas would have to be different after talks on a ceasefire and hostage release fell apart last week.
