US Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday released a set of files related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of sex trafficking and other serious offenses but committed suicide before his trial in 2019.Bondi said the files fulfilled a pledge of transparency in governance made by US President Donald Trump, although the documents did not immediately appear to contain any new revelations. The department said many of them had been previously leaked.”This Department of Justice is following through on President Trump’s commitment to transparency and lifting the veil on the disgusting actions of Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators,” said Bondi in a statement.The documents included an evidence list, flight plans, and a contact book that appeared to be part of the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend who was convicted of sex crimes in 2021.Maxwell has been serving a 20-year prison sentence in New York since 2022.Bondi said her department had received 200 pages of documents in response to a request for “full and complete” files on Epstein.”However, the Attorney General was later informed of thousands of pages of documents related to the investigation and indictment of Epstein that were not previously disclosed,” the Justice Department statement said.Bondi requested the Federal Bureau of Investigation, run by Trump appointee Kash Patel, to provide the remaining documents to her office by Friday morning.Epstein, a financier with a powerful network in the United States and abroad, was accused of raping young girls, but his suicide by hanging in a New York prison in August 2019 halted his prosecution.He was accused of running a sex trafficking ring alongside Maxwell for almost three decades.Unsealed documents in the case included the names of a number of high-profile politicians, celebrities and businesspeople, fueling conspiracy theories around his death in August 2019.The US Department of Justice and the FBI, however, found no evidence of foul play in his death.A 2023 Department of Justice Inspector General’s report, however, found a “combination of negligence, misconduct, and outright job performance failures” led to circumstances that allowed Epstein to take his own life.

US president Andrew Jackson famously reacted to an unfavorable ruling by the Supreme Court chief justice with the defiant rejoinder: “John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it.”Nearly 200 years later, the United States teeters on the brink of a constitutional crisis as the administration of President Donald Trump — faced with a series of court setbacks to his aggressive right-wing agenda — flirts with open defiance of the judiciary.Trump has said he will abide by court rulings and appeal those he disagrees with, but he also recently posted on Truth Social a quote attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte: “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.”Vice President JD Vance and designated cost-cutter Elon Musk, on the other hand, seem to be inviting a clash between the executive and the judiciary.”If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal,” Vance posted on X this month.Same thing if a judge tries to command the attorney general, he said, adding: “Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power.”Musk has called for the impeachment of judges he accuses of blocking his sweeping cuts to the federal workforce and government programs.”If ANY judge ANYWHERE can block EVERY Presidential order EVERYWHERE, we do NOT have democracy, we have TYRANNY of the JUDICIARY,” the billionaire said in a post on X.White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has also weighed in.”The real constitutional crisis is taking place within our judicial branch,” Leavitt said, accusing judges in “liberal districts” of “abusing their power to unilaterally block President Trump’s basic executive authority.”Leavitt’s comments are in line with a conservative legal doctrine known as the “unitary executive theory” under which the president holds the sole authority over the executive branch.The theory could meet its ultimate test in the Supreme Court, where conservatives hold a 6-3 majority.- ‘Power grab’ -Senator Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, accused Trump and Musk of “pursuing a power grab that — if left unchecked — will leave the federal courts impotent and Congress a museum piece.”Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, said a constitutional crisis occurs when one of the three co-equal branches of government — the legislature, the executive and the judiciary — attempts to exercise the power of another branch.The United States has faced constitutional crises before, most notably when southern states seceded from the Union, precipitating the 1861-65 Civil War.Another was when Jackson, America’s seventh president, defied the Supreme Court order to stop the military from removing members of the Cherokee Nation from their land in Georgia.Steven Schwinn, a law professor at the University of Illinois Chicago, said there is no universally accepted definition of a constitutional crisis.”Some think we’re already in one,” Schwinn said. “Others say it’s if and when the president openly defies the Supreme Court.”I think we’re fast approaching a crisis with the administration seemingly openly defying court orders to re-start USAID funding,” he said.- ‘Dangerous suggestions’ -Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts warned of the danger of ignoring court rulings in a year-end letter in December that may prove to be even more prescient than he intended at the time.”Elected officials from across the political spectrum have raised the specter of open disregard for federal court rulings,” Roberts wrote. “These dangerous suggestions, however sporadic, must be soundly rejected.”The conservative chief justice noted that every administration suffers court defeats — sometimes in cases with major ramifications for executive or legislative power.”Nevertheless, for the past several decades, the decisions of the courts, popular or not, have been followed,” he said.What happens next is anybody’s guess.The courts do have some tools at their disposal if their orders are being defied, Tobias said, including civil and criminal contempt, possible fines and threats of imprisonment.At the end of the day, however, “the courts rely on the good-faith compliance of other constitutional actors with the rule of law,” Schwinn said.”If there’s no such good-faith compliance, there’s little the courts can do.”

Five former US defense secretaries on Thursday addressed a letter to lawmakers denouncing as “reckless” the recent firings of senior Pentagon officials by President Donald Trump.Trump this month launched a sweeping shakeup of the US Defense Department, firing top officers and moving to lay off thousands of civilian workers, pushing the Pentagon into the political spotlight.Democrats have accused Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth of seeking to politicize the military and ensure it is led by people personally loyal to the president. In the letter, the ex-defense secretaries, who served under both Republican and Democratic administrations, added their voices to the condemnation, saying they were “deeply alarmed” by the firings. “We write to urge the U.S. Congress to hold Mr. Trump to account for these reckless actions and to exercise fully its Constitutional oversight responsibilities,” the letter said. The letter was signed by the most recent defense chief under Trump’s Democratic predecessor Joe Biden, Lloyd Austin, as well as William Perry, Chuck Hagel, Leon Panetta and James Mattis, who served in Trump’s first administration. “Mr. Trump’s dismissals raise troubling questions about the administration’s desire to politicize the military and to remove legal constraints on the President’s power,” the five men wrote. “President Trump’s actions undermine our all-volunteer force and weaken our national security.” Remaining above the political fray is a core principle for the US armed forces, with troops even barred from engaging in some types of political activity to maintain the military’s neutrality. Trump administration officials have defended the firings, with Hegseth insisting the president is simply choosing the leaders he wants, saying, “Nothing about this is unprecedented.” No accusations of misconduct have been made against the recently removed officials, including top officer General Charles “CQ” Brown, who was less than two years into his four-year term as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Since taking office in late January for his second term, Trump has instigated rapid, broad cuts to US federal agencies. The Defense Department — the largest employer in the United States — said last week it would soon start cutting its civilian workforce by at least five percent.

A list of 29 suspects extradited to the United States on Thursday reads like a “Who’s Who” of Mexico’s imprisoned drug lords. Here are three of the most notorious cartel kingpins who were handed over:- Rafael Caro Quintero -The biggest prize was without doubt Rafael Caro Quintero, who has been wanted by the United States for decades over the kidnap, torture and murder of Drug Enforcement Administration special agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in 1985.The 72-year-old “Narco of Narcos,” who has always denied he was behind the killing, was on the FBI’s list of 10 most-wanted fugitives until he was captured in Mexico in 2022.There was a $20 million reward for information leading to his arrest — the most Washington has ever offered for a Mexican drug trafficker.His handover was an “extremely personal” moment for the entire DEA, the agency’s acting administrator Derek S. Maltz said.Caro Quintero had already been arrested in 1985, tried in Mexico and sentenced to 40 years in prison for Camarena’s murder.But in 2013, a Mexican court ordered his release on a legal technicality after he served 28 years, a move that angered US authorities.By the time Mexico’s Supreme Court overturned the decision, Caro Quintero had already gone into hiding.Caro Quintero is said to have begun growing marijuana at the age of 14.He went on to co-found the now-defunct Guadalajara cartel — which did business with the late Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar — before running an arm of the infamous Sinaloa cartel.Reputed to have had a weakness for jewelry and fine clothing, he cited his impoverished childhood to justify his actions.”I was an orphan, my father died, I was 14 years old and I had to feed my brothers, that’s how it all started,” he told Proceso magazine in a 2016 interview.- Miguel Angel Trevino Morales -As head of the Zetas drug cartel, Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, alias “Z-40,” led one of Mexico’s most powerful and feared organized crime groups until its collapse.The group was founded by deserters from the Mexican special forces known for their brutality.Originally, they acted as the armed enforcers of the Gulf Cartel, but the two groups split in 2010, and the Zetas became a major drug trafficking organization in their own right.The split sparked brutal turf wars in the north of the country.At the time of his arrest in 2013, officials described Trevino Morales, now 54, as a brutal killer who liked to “stew” his enemies by plunging them in containers of oil and fuel that he would set on fire.The US government had offered $5 million for information leading to his capture.- Omar Trevino Morales -Omar Trevino Morales, alias “Z-42,” allegedly took over the Zetas after his older brother Miguel Angel was captured by marines in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas in July 2013.He was considered “one of the most dangerous and bloodthirsty criminals in Mexico,” Tomas Zeron, the investigations chief at the attorney general’s office, said at the time.In 2010, Omar Trevino Morales told an informant that he had killed more than 1,000 people while his brother Miguel had killed 2,000, according to an affidavit filed in a US court for a case involving another Trevino brother in Texas.Like his brother, he had a $5 million US bounty for information leading to his arrest.Now 51, he was caught in 2015 by Mexican police and soldiers in an upper-class suburb of the northern industrial city of Monterrey.Washington accuses the two brothers of being “personally responsible” for committing dozens of murders and for directing killings, kidnappings and torture.

Hundreds of scientists and experts have been fired from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), a leading US agency responsible for weather forecasting, climate analysis, marine conservation and more, a Democratic lawmaker said Thursday.The cuts come as Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency enacts sweeping reductions to the federal workforce — moves that critics argue may exceed legal authority.NOAA has been a prime target for conservative ideologues behind Project 2025, a blueprint for governing that President Donald Trump’s new administration appears to be following. The plan, developed by the Heritage Foundation, describes NOAA as one of the “main drivers of the climate change alarm industry” and calls for dismantling the agency. It also seeks to privatize the National Weather Service, leaving weather forecasting in the hands of companies like AccuWeather.”Hundreds of scientists and experts at NOAA just received the news every federal worker has been dreading,” Congressman Jared Huffman of California wrote in a statement.”Musk’s sham mission is bringing vital programs to a screeching halt. People nationwide depend on NOAA for free, accurate forecasts, severe weather alerts, and emergency information,” added Huffman, who is the second most powerful member of the House Natural Resources Committee.”Purging the government of scientists, experts, and career civil servants and slashing fundamental programs will cost lives.”A NOAA spokesman said the agency would not comment on internal personnel matters.”We continue to provide weather information, forecasts and warnings pursuant to our public safety mission,” Theo Stein, the spokesman, told AFP.Environmental advocates expressed concern at the move.”Trump’s mass firings at NOAA are an act of sabotage aimed at one of our most important federal agencies,” said Miyoko Sakashita, the Center for Biological Diversity’s oceans director.She added that gutting the agency “will hamstring essential lifesaving programs that forecast storms, ensure ocean safety, and prevent the extinction of whales and sea otters.”Trump has reappointed meteorologist Neil Jacobs to lead NOAA, despite his role in the “Sharpiegate” scandal during Trump’s first term. Jacobs, who led the agency from 2018 to 2021, was officially censured for bowing to political pressure and misleading the public about a hurricane forecast.The controversy erupted in 2019 when Trump falsely claimed Hurricane Dorian would hit Alabama. After the National Weather Service corrected him, Trump doubled down, displaying a doctored forecast map altered with a Sharpie. NOAA later issued an unsigned statement backing Trump, sparking backlash. Official investigations castigated Jacobs for his involvement in the statement.

The two films could hardly be more different: a raucous, rip-roaring indie about a sex worker, and an elegant, big-studio drama set in the Vatican.But “Anora” and “Conclave” appear to be locked in a tight two-horse race to win best picture at the Oscars on Sunday.With a twisty awards season rocked by Los Angeles wildfires and a racist tweet scandal reaching its climax, the battle for Hollywood’s ultimate prize is too close to call.”I don’t think anyone can honestly tell you,” said The Hollywood Reporter’s awards expert Scott Feinberg.”Both sides are feeling more nervous than confident… that should be an indicator that this is really a nail-biter,” he told AFP.Sean Baker’s “Anora” — about a New York exotic dancer who weds a wealthy Russian playboy, only to learn that her dream marriage is a nightmare illusion — is the year’s most awarded film to date.The low-budget indie won the Cannes festival’s Palme d’Or last May, and has accrued top prizes from Hollywood directors, producers, writers and critics.But “Conclave” — a film about the secretive and cutthroat election of a new Catholic leader, lent an uncanny timeliness by the real-life Pope Francis’s ailing health — appears to have won over many late voters.Released by NBCUniversal’s prestige label Focus Features, with an impeccable A-list cast led by Ralph Fiennes, it earned top honors from Britain’s BAFTAs, and the Hollywood actors’ SAG Award for best cast.Almost every surprise best picture Oscar winner in recent times — from “Shakespeare in Love” and “Crash” to “Parasite” and “CODA” — first won the top SAG prize, said Feinberg.”I personally put ‘Conclave’… it’s just more of a traditional, classic ‘best picture’ film,” one Oscars voter told AFP.The voter, anonymous because Academy members cannot reveal their picks, also expressed admiration for “The Brutalist,” a saga about a Hungarian Jewish architect making a new life in the post-WWII United States.- Oscar records -Adrien Brody, who plays the titular gifted architect and Holocaust survivor in “The Brutalist,” has been the presumed favorite to win best actor for months. Brody has won the prize previously, for 2002’s “The Pianist.” If he prevails again, he’d join an elite club of double winners including Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson.But Timothee Chalamet earned wide admiration for his pitch-perfect performance as a sardonic young Bob Dylan in “A Complete Unknown,” won the Screen Actors Guild Award over Brody, and could prove a spoiler.At just 29, he arguably has the most star power of any of this year’s nominees, and would beat Brody’s record as the category’s youngest-ever winner.Brody is “still the safer pick,” said Feinberg — assuming enough Academy voters made it through his film’s three-and-a-half-hour runtime.Several fellow Academy members “were upset that they were locked in a room for that amount of time,” said the Oscars voter.- ‘Comeback story’ -There could be an even younger winner on the actress side, if a groundswell of support for “Anora” carries its star Mikey Madison, 25, to the Oscars stage.But she will have to get past Demi Moore, the 1990s megastar who had enjoyed a sparkling career renaissance thanks to gory body horror flick “The Substance.””Hollywood loves a comeback story,” said the Oscars voter.It seems that neither woman need fear their fellow nominee Karla Sofia Gascon, of musical narco-thriller “Emilia Perez.”Gascon, the first openly trans acting nominee, saw her hopes collapse after years-old racist tweets about Islam, China and American George Floyd, a Black man who died at the hands of US police in 2020, went viral.The controversy also sunk Netflix’s chance of its first best picture win, though co-star Zoe Saldana remains the favorite to win for best supporting actress.Best supporting actor appears to be similarly locked. Kieran Culkin has won almost everything going this year for his portrayal of a charismatic but troubled cousin on an ancestral road trip through Poland in “A Real Pain.”- ‘Wicked’ stars -The ceremony itself, hosted by Conan O’Brien on his Oscars debut, is expected to be an emotional affair.It will honor firefighters who battled blazes that killed at least 29 people and devastated Los Angeles in January.Hoping to capitalize on a recent ratings uptick — last year’s gala featured a memorable “Barbie”-themed musical showstopper — producers have enlisted “Wicked” stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo to perform.For the first time, the gala will stream live on Hulu, as well as on US network ABC, and in more than 200 territories worldwide.The 97th Oscars begin Sunday at 4:00 pm (0000 GMT Monday).