NEWS

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A man convicted of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison for what prosecutors described as a calculated and premeditated plot.

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President Donald Trump says he will remain uninvolved in the Netflix–Paramount Skydance scramble over Warner Bros. Discovery, reversing earlier comments that hinted he might personally intervene in the deal. In an exclusive interview on “NBC Nightly News” with Tom Llamas on Wednesday, Trump said: “I haven’t been involved. I must say, I guess I’m considered to be a very strong president. I’ve been called by both sides. It’s the two sides, but I’ve decided I shouldn’t be involved. The Justice Department will handle it.”

Pressed about the competing arguments around the deal, Trump acknowledged the sharp divide between the bidders.

“There’s a theory that one of the companies is too big and it shouldn’t be allowed to do it, and the other company is saying something else,” he said. “They’re beating the hell out of each other — and there’ll be a winner.”

In December, Netflix announced a $72 billion deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery’s film studio, along with HBO and the HBO Max streaming service. Paramount Skydance pursued a competing bid for the broader company, including its cable networks.

Paramount Skydance is led by David Ellison, the son of Larry Ellison, the billionaire co-founder of Oracle and a prominent supporter of Trump. The Ellisons are the controlling shareholders of Paramount.

Trump has maintained a close relationship with Larry Ellison, a dynamic that has drawn attention as the bidding war over Warner Bros. Discovery has intensified.

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JD Vance has refused to apologize to the family of a Minneapolis nurse shot dead by immigration agents after he amplified claims the deceased was an 'assassin.'

The Vice President sat down for a wide-ranging exclusive interview with the Daily Mail on Tuesday, where he refused to admit any wrongdoing over spreading White House claims that Pretti intended to kill law enforcement.

Vance reposted allegations on X broadcast by White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller branding Pretti 'an assassin' who 'tried to murder federal agents.'

When asked by the Mail if he would apologize for endorsing Miller's statement, Vance shot back: 'For what?'

'If something is determined that the guy who shot Alex Pretti did something bad, then a lot of consequences are going to flow from that. We'll let that happen,' Vance said. 'I don't think it's smart to prejudge the investigation.'

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The Washington Post said Wednesday it will eliminate a substantial number of jobs, significantly scaling back reporting on sports and overseas affairs. Employees across multiple departments will be affected, but the newsroom’s sports, local and foreign sections are absorbing the biggest losses—raising questions about how the paper will continue covering national and global stories. The paper is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Executive editor Matt Murray said the cuts would bring "stability". But the announcement was met with condemnation from the paper's employees and some former leaders, one of whom described it as among the "darkest days in the history of" the storied newspaper.

"Today's news is painful. These are difficult actions," Murray wrote in a note to staff on Wednesday.

"If we are to thrive, not just endure, we must reinvent our journalism and our business model with renewed ambition."

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Immigration officers with guns drawn arrested activists who were trailing their vehicles on Tuesday in Minneapolis, while education leaders described anxiety and fear in Minnesota schools from the ongoing federal sweeps. Both are signs that tension remains in the Minneapolis area after the departure of high-profile commander Greg Bovino of U.S. Border Patrol and the arrival of Trump administration border czar Tom Homan, which followed the fatal shooting of protester Alex Pretti.

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A man convicted of attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison for what prosecutors described as a calculated and premeditated plot.

U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon imposed the sentence on Ryan Wesley Routh during a hearing in Fort Pierce, Fla. The life term is the maximum punishment for attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate. Routh also received an additional mandatory seven-year sentence related to a firearm offense.

Routh, 59, was found guilty last September on multiple charges after serving as his own defense attorney during the trial. Jurors deliberated for less than two hours before convicting him on all counts, including attempted assassination, assaulting a federal officer and several firearms violations.

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The United States Department of Justice has removed thousands of documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation from its website after victims and their legal representatives warned that serious privacy breaches had occurred. The action followed widespread concern that sensitive personal information had been improperly disclosed in a massive document release mandated by Congress.

On Friday, the DOJ released roughly three million additional documents connected to the Epstein case. The release was part of a legal requirement passed by both chambers of Congress, compelling the department to make public all Epstein related files while

ensuring that identifying details of victims were properly redacted. However, lawyers representing Epstein’s victims quickly raised alarms, stating that flawed redactions had exposed the identities of nearly 100 survivors.

According to victim advocates, the released files included unredacted email addresses, banking information, and even nude photographs where faces and names of potential victims could be identified. Survivors said the disclosures had devastating consequences, with some reporting harassment, threats, and severe emotional distress. In a joint statement, victims described the release as outrageous and said they should not be named, scrutinized, or retraumatized by government errors.

In a letter submitted to a federal judge on Monday, the DOJ confirmed that it had removed all documents flagged by victims or their counsel by Sunday evening. The department said the files were taken down for further redaction and acknowledged that the mistakes were the result of technical or human error. Officials added that they were continuing to review additional requests and had independently identified and removed a substantial number of other documents that may contain sensitive information.

Two lawyers representing victims, Brittany Henderson and Brad Edwards, had earlier urged a federal judge in New York to order the DOJ to take down the entire website hosting the files. They described the release as the single most egregious violation of victim privacy in one day in United States history and called the situation an unfolding emergency requiring immediate judicial intervention.

Several survivors submitted personal statements to the court. One described the disclosures as life threatening, while another said she had received death threats after her private financial details were made public. Speaking to the BBC, Epstein survivor Annie Farmer said it had been difficult to focus on any new information revealed by the documents because of the harm caused by exposing survivors in this way.

Another survivor, Lisa Phillips, said many victims were deeply unhappy with the handling of the release. She accused the DOJ of failing to meet three basic requirements. She said some documents were still missing, the release deadline had long passed, and the names of many survivors had been made public. Phillips said

victims felt the department was not being transparent and that they would continue to fight for accountability.

Prominent attorney Gloria Allred also criticized the release, saying that in some cases names were only partially obscured and still readable, while in others photographs of victims who had never spoken publicly were included. The DOJ responded by stating that it takes victim protection very seriously and emphasized that only a small percentage of pages contained unredacted identifying information.

The Epstein files include millions of pages, images, and videos released over the past year following a law mandating full disclosure. Epstein died in a New York prison cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. Despite the volume of released material, the controversy has reignited questions about accountability and the government’s responsibility to protect victims while pursuing transparency.