Trump seeks to reverse ruling that his trade tariffs are illegal – US politics live | US news

Several survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse signaled their support on Wednesday for a bipartisan resolution to release all the files related to the convicted sex offender, who died in a Manhattan prison in 2019.

Speaking outside the US Capitol, Anouska De Georgiou, a survivor of both Epstein and his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, said that while “every day of this journey toward healing has come at a profound cost to my mental health”, she had chosen to be there because this legislation “really matters”.

The only motive to oppose the bill would be to “conceal wrongdoing”, she added, but also issued a plea to Donald Trump to use his power and influence to help release the full tranche of records on Epstein.

The section of the Capitol grounds, known as the House Triangle, was packed with reporters and demonstrators. Signs accusing the US president of “protecting pedophiles” were raised alongside placards demanding the administration “release the files”, and messages of support for survivors, reading “we believe you”. Many of those at the news conference told personal stories of how they were abused and trafficked. Annie Farmer, now 46, said she was only 16 when she was flown to New Mexico to spend a weekend with Epstein and Maxwell.

“For so many years, it felt like Epstein’s criminal behavior was an open secret,” Farmer said. “Not only did many others participate in the abuse, it is clear that many were aware of his interest in girls and very young women and chose to look the other way because it benefited them to do so.”

At the same press conference, the bill’s co-author, Republican representative Thomas Massie said that he is close to reaching the 218 signatures needed to bypass US House leadership and bring his bipartisan legislation, calling for the release of the Epstein files, to a floor vote.

“Hopefully they can find their spines,” the Kentucky lawmaker said of the Republican holdouts. “I’m calling on my colleagues to be one of the next two who sponsors this discharge petition.”

President Donald Trump on Thursday will host more than two dozen technology and business leaders for a dinner in the newly renovated White House Rose Garden, according to a White House official.

The guests include Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, the official said.

The gathering highlights Trump’s complicated but evolving relationship with Silicon Valley and the broader tech industry, Reuters reported.

Once a source of frequent clashes over issues such as content moderation and antitrust scrutiny, the tech sector has recalibrated since Trump’s 2024 election victory.

Executives have sought closer ties with the Republican administration, aligning corporate policies with the White House’s push to roll back diversity and equity initiatives while courting Trump’s favor on artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies.

“The president looks forward to welcoming top business, political and tech leaders for this dinner and the many dinners to come on the new, beautiful Rose Garden patio,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said.

The Trump administration purposefully chose a notorious Louisiana prison to hold immigration detainees as a way to encourage people in the US illegally to self-deport, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary Kristi Noem said Wednesday.

A complex inside the Louisiana state penitentiary, an immense rural prison better known as Angola, will be used to detain those whom Noem described as the “worst of the worst” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detainees. Noem was speaking to reporters as she stood on the grounds of the facility near a new sign reading, “Louisiana Lockup.”

“This facility will hold the most dangerous of criminals,” Noem said, adding it had “absolutely” been chosen for its reputation.

Officials said 51 detainees were already being housed at Angola. But Louisiana governor Jeff Landry said he expects the building to be filled to capacity, expecting over 400 people to come in ensuing months, as president Donald Trump continues his large-scale attempt to remove millions of people suspected of entering the country illegally.

The dirt road to the new Ice facility meanders past lofty oak trees, green fields and other buildings – including a white church and a structure with a sign that says, “Angola Shake Down Team”.

The facility is surrounded by a fence with five rows of stacked barbed wire. Overlooking the outdoor area is a tower, where a guard paced back and forth.

At the prison entrance a sign reads: “You are entering the land of new beginnings.”

Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog. I’m Tom Ambrose and I will be bringing you all the latest news lines over the next few hours.

We start with news that Donald Trump has asked the US supreme court to overturn a lower court decision that most of his sweeping trade tariffs were illegal.

The US president filed a petition late on Wednesday to ask for a review of last week’s federal appeals court ruling in Washington DC, which centred on his “liberation day” border taxes introduced on 2 April, which imposed levies of between 10% and 50% on most US imports, sending shock waves through global trade and markets.

The court found in a 7-4 ruling last Friday that Trump had overstepped his presidential powers when he invoked a 1977 law designed to address national emergencies to justify his “reciprocal” tariffs.

The decision was the biggest blow yet to Trump’s tariff policies, but the levies were left in place until 14 October – giving the administration time to ask the supreme court to review the decision.

Trump has now appealed and the supreme court is expected to review the case, although the justices must still agree to do so. The administration asked for that decision to be made by 10 September.

The appeal calls for an accelerated schedule with arguments being heard by 10 November, according to filings seen by Bloomberg. Justices could then rule by the end of the year.

Read the full story here:

In other developments:

• Children in Florida will no longer be required to receive vaccines against preventable diseases including measles, mumps, chickenpox, polio and hepatitis.

• The governors of California, Oregon and Washington announced on Wednesday the creation of a West Coast Health Alliance aimed at safeguarding access to vaccines.

• A letter published on Wednesday from more than 1,000 past and present workers of the Department of Health and Human Services department (HHS) has demanded the resignation of Robert F Kennedy Jr.

• Donald Trump on Thursday will host more than two dozen technology and business leaders for a dinner, according to a White House official. The guests include Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

• Several survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse signaled their support on Wednesday for a bipartisan resolution to release all the files related to the convicted sex offender.

• A so-called “missing minute” of CCTV footage, a key ingredient of conspiracy theories surrounding Epstein’s death in prison has been found, contradicting the assertion of Pam Bondi, the attorney general, that it was recorded over.

• A federal judge on Wednesday ruled Donald Trump’s administration unlawfully terminated about $2.2bn in grants awarded to Harvard University and can no longer cut off research funding to the Ivy League school.

• Jeff Landry, the Republican governor of Louisiana, said he backed the president’s threat to send federal troops to his state.

• Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, warned that the US military would continue to target vessels belonging to alleged Venezuelan drug cartels.