Trump news at a glance: Epstein survivors have words for Melania Trump after surprise statement | Melania Trump

Epstein abuse survivors accuse Melania Trump of ‘shifting the burden’ onto victims

It remains unclear what specific accusations prompted the first lady’s remarks. Her senior adviser, Marc Beckman, told Reuters that she was “speaking out now because enough is enough. The lies must stop.”

In an interview with The New York Times on Friday, the president said he did not know what the first lady planned to talk about in her statement, but said she wanted to answer questions about her ties to Epstein. “I didn’t know what that statement was,” he said, adding “she had a right to talk about it.”

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‘He’s mentally unstable’: Iranian-American in Congress condemns Trump’s war, pushes for withdrawal

Donald Trump is a “nasty human being” who “wants to be an emperor” and should be removed from office over the war in Iran, Yassamin Ansari, an Iranian-American member of the US Congress, told the Guardian.

Ansari, the daughter of Iranian immigrants who fled the regime decades ago, spoke out after the president threatened to wipe out Iranian civilization before backing down and announcing an uncertain two-week ceasefire.

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Vance warns Iran against trying to ‘play’ with US in peace talks

JD Vance warned Iran not to “try to play games” with the United States at talks scheduled for Saturday in Islamabad, while Tehran said it would not participate until Israel stopped its bombing of Lebanon.

The US vice president made the comments as he boarded a plane bound for Pakistan for negotiations that could determine whether a ceasefire is maintained or the war against Iran resumes, with serious implications for the global economy.

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War gave Iran new leverage for its nuclear program, former US envoys say

Former U.S. envoys who dealt with Iran said the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran and Tehran’s subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz gave Iran new tools and the determination to resist pressure to end its nuclear program.

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Trump releases graphic video of Florida woman’s murder

Assailed by questions about his war with Iran and his wife’s statement about Jeffrey Epstein, Donald Trump tried to bring the national debate back to his crackdown on immigration by releasing a graphic and distressing video of a woman in Florida killed last week by a man he described as an illegal immigrant from Haiti.

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What else happened today:

• U.S. inflation soared in March amid the U.S.-Israel war on Iran, with prices up 0.9% from last month and 3.3% for the year.according to new data released Friday.

• California gubernatorial candidate Eric Swalwell is facing growing pressure to drop out of the race. following an allegation of sexual assault and multiple allegations of sexual misconduct.

• A Trump administration appointee delayed release of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that shows Covid vaccine benefitsraising concerns that the administration is engaging in behind-the-scenes tactics to undermine vaccines.

• Pete Hegseth, Trump’s US defense secretary, is overseeing another strategic disaster in the Middle East. Is it a war or a crusade?

• Dozens of American and international human rights organizations are denouncing the Trump administration’s plans to establish a migrant ‘camp’ for fleeing Cubans at the Guantánamo Bay military base whether the island nation’s crisis worsens under pressure from the United States, according to a letter to members of Congress on Friday.

• Kamala Harris said she was “thinking” about running in the 2028 presidential election. “I could, I could. I’m thinking about it,” the former vice president and 2024 candidate told the crowd at a rally of the National Action Network (NAN), a civil rights organization founded by Al Sharpton, on Friday in New York.