News From Around the Web
#1 Columbia University to Pay $200 Million Settlement to Federal Government Over Anti-discrimination Investigations - Ali Bauman for CBS News, Breanna Morello, Nick Sortor, Jeremy Carl, Matt Millar, and Zerohedge on X
Columbia University will pay a $200 million settlement to the federal government as part of an agreement to resolve investigations into alleged violations of anti-discrimination laws. The school's acting president insists the school will maintain its academic independence, while reinstating its terminated grants and allowing faculty to once again be eligible for future research grants. In a statement posted by Columbia's Office of President, the university says the $200 million will be paid out over three years, along with an additional $21 million to settle investigations brought by the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The Trump administration accused Columbia of failing to stop antisemitism on campus and has been withholding $400 million in federal grants from the school since early March. The university says as part of the agreement, federal funding for research grants will be restored...
#2 House Subcommittee Votes 8-2 to Subpoena Justice Department for Epstein Files - PBS News, Stephen Cranley, Little Coco, Adrienne Bradley, The Globe and Mail, Robert Paul, and Kevin on X
A House subcommittee on Wednesday voted to subpoena the Department of Justice for files in the sex trafficking investigation into Jeffrey Epstein after Democrats successfully goaded GOP lawmakers to defy President Donald Trump and Republican leadership to support the action. The vote showed the intensifying push for disclosures in the Epstein investigation, even as House Speaker Mike Johnson — caught between demands from Trump and clamoring from his own members for the House to act — was sending lawmakers home a day early for its August recess. The House Committee on Oversight also issued a subpoena Wednesday for Ghislaine Maxwell, a convicted sex offender and girlfriend of the late Epstein, to testify before committee officials in August...
#3 Rep. James Comer Subpoenas Ghislaine Maxwell to Testify Next Month - Hailey Fuchs for Politico, Rep. James Comer, Make Lansing Great Again, LORI HOLLAND, JV3MJD, and NewsChannel 5 on X
House Oversight Chair James Comer sent a subpoena to Jeffrey Epstein associate and convicted child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, compelling her testimony before Congress on Aug. 11. The Kentucky Republican said the Department of Justice was cooperating with the request and would help facilitate the interview at a Tallahassee federal prison next month. Comer told reporters on Tuesday that he would seek to interview Maxwell after an Oversight subcommittee voted in favor of the subpoena. The Justice Department has also made recent moves to interview Maxwell, even amid aspersions around her trustworthiness. Speaker Mike Johnson questioned, “Can we trust what she’s going to say?”
#4 DOJ Told Trump He’s Named in Epstein Files, WSJ Reports - Heather Miller for LIVE NOW Fox, Globe Eye News, Tony Seruga, Gunther Eagleman, Intel Report Daily, and BRICS News on X
Attorney General Pam Bondi reportedly told President Trump in May that his name was mentioned multiple times in the "truckload" of documents from the Jeffrey Epstein case, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. According to The Journal, many other high-profile people were also reportedly named in the files, and being named doesn’t automatically mean there was wrongdoing. The report comes days after Trump filed a lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal over its article about an alleged birthday letter Trump sent to Epstein. It also comes the same day a judge denied the Justice Department’s request to unseal grand jury transcripts from Epstein’s criminal cases – and the same day a congressional committee issued a subpoena for convicted Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell to testify in August. The Trump administration is trying to quell a storm among Trump supporters who believe there was a conspiracy to protect Epstein’s clients, conceal videos of crimes being committed, and other evidence...
#5 Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron Sue Far-Right Podcaster Candace Owens Over False Claims French President’s Wife Is a Man - Alex Woodward for Independent, George, Pop Base, Nick Sortor (community note), MILO, and Yashar Ali on X
French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron have filed a defamation lawsuit against Candace Owens over the far-right influencer’s “relentless and unjustified smear campaign” falsely accusing Brigitte of being a man. The 219-page defamation complaint filed in Delaware state court on Wednesday accuses Owens of proliferating “demonstrably false” claims through her platforms, including in an eight-part podcast and on social media, designed to feed a “frenzied fan base” in “pursuit of fame,” the Macrons allege. “These lies have caused tremendous damage to the Macrons,” according to the lawsuit, which names Owens as well her business entities, which are incorporated in Delaware...
#6 ‘South Park’ Takes on Trump in Season 27 Premiere as Creators Ink $1.5 Billion Deal - Kevin Dolak for The Hollywood Reporter, Collin Rugg, MeidasTouch, Kate, Ego/Ant, Kev, and Turnbull on X
South Park returned to television Wednesday after a nearly two-and-a-half-year hiatus, kicking its 27th season off with a hilarious and, as expected, controversial premiere, where the show took on President Donald Trump, showing a depiction of him in bed with series regular, Satan. Government censorship, the death of wokeness, ChatGPT, and religion in the nation’s public schools were the main topics of the season premiere. After Cartman learns of the cancellation of the radio show where “liberals bitch and whine about stuff,” an assembly is called by series favorite PC Principal, who introduces a guest at an assembly: Jesus Christ. Before the first act break, the town’s parents are rioting, and a cutout of President Trump turns up, as the plot shifts to the White House and a president at odds with Canada and lying naked in bed with Satan, with his small penis on full display.
#7 Trump Paused Student-Loan Forgiveness for Nearly 2 Million Borrowers on Income-Based Repayment Plans - Asheffey for Business Insider, TouTzuSays, unusual_whales, Newsweek, Ask Perplexity, and National Association for College Admission Counseling on X
President Donald Trump's Department of Education quietly updated its guidance on student-loan forgiveness for borrowers on income-based repayment plans, which give enrolled borrowers monthly payments based on their income and family size, with the promise of forgiveness after 20 or 25 years. According to Federal Student Aid data, just under 2 million borrowers were enrolled in IBR as of the second quarter of 2025. A notice posted on FSA's website said that ongoing litigation with former President Joe Biden's SAVE plan is preventing the administration from processing IBR forgiveness. "Currently, IBR forgiveness is paused while our systems are updated to accurately count months not affected by the court's injunction. IBR forgiveness will resume once those updates are completed," the notice said...
#8 Trump Push to Ban Birthright Citizenship Unconstitutional, US Court Rules - Cy Neff for The Guardian, Adrienne Bradley, The Associated Press, Pop Crave, Kevin waterbury, and Rebecca Butler on X
Donald Trump’s effort to repeal birthright citizenship has hit another a stumbling block, with a federal appeals court in San Francisco declaring the president’s attempt unconstitutional. The three-judge ruling panel in the 9th US circuit court of appeals echoed a district court in New Hampshire that blocked the executive order earlier this month. “The district court correctly concluded that the executive order’s proposed interpretation, denying citizenship to many persons born in the United States, is unconstitutional. We fully agree,” the verdict said. The case is now one stop further on the long road to the US Supreme Court...
#9 New Russiagate Evidence ‘Directly’ Points to Obama, DOJ Will Decide ‘Criminal Implications’: Gabbard - Diana Stancy for Fox News, Kyle, Brian Eastwood, Bo Snerdly, Bob Noerr, robert/The Vigilant Fox, and Mark Scott on X
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard doubled down at a White House press briefing Wednesday, alleging the Obama administration promoted a "contrived narrative" that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. "There is irrefutable evidence that details how President Obama and his national security team directed the creation of an intelligence community assessment that they knew was false," Gabbard said. "They knew it would promote this contrived narrative that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help President Trump win, selling it to the American people as though it were true. It wasn't."
#10 The White House Rose Garden Lawn Is Officially Gone: See the Latest Pics of Donald and Melania's Concrete Redesign - Meredith Kile for People, Political Ant, Todd B, Joshua@Seattle, TOWN&COUNTRY, Kevin Butler, and Lee Chears on X
The White House Rose Garden is almost unrecognizable as President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump continue their summer renovations. A new photo taken on Tuesday, July 22, showed the large concrete slab that now rests where grass once covered the historic space, which was given a central lawn in 1961 at the request of President John F. Kennedy. In a March interview with Fox News' Laura Ingraham, Trump explained the decision to put down concrete and design something more similar to a presidential patio. “You know, we use [the Rose Garden] for press conferences, and it doesn’t work because the people fall,” he said. "The terrain can be wet, and the soft ground can be an issue for some... Women, with the high heels, it just didn’t work.”
