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Confirmation hearings are underway for President Donald Trump's nominee for attorney general, his personal attorney Todd Blanche. Blanche is mired in a number of controversies, most notably his mishandling of the administration's release of the Epstein files while serving as deputy attorney general under Pam Bondi. Washington state Representative Pramila Jayapal, who is co-sponsoring a bill to allow Epstein survivors whose identifying information was improperly publicized by the Department of Justice to sue the federal government for damages, says "Todd Blanche was responsible" for the breach. "He really wanted to discourage anyone else from coming forward with more information. … It's [a] big reason why he shouldn't be the attorney general." Jayapal also discusses the Department of Justice's surveillance of herself and other legislators who viewed Epstein-related documents and Blanche's longstanding personal and professional connections with Trump.
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As we continue our conversation with Congressmember Pramila Jayapal, we turn to recent developments involving the United States military. On Wednesday, Jayapal was one of over half of all House Democrats to vote in favor eliminating over $3 billion in military aid to Israel. Although the proposed amendment was ultimately shot down, the final tally with over 100 members voting yes is still a "sea change" in U.S. political support for Israel, says Jayapal. Following Israel's genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, "it is the horror of what has unfolded that has finally allowed us to confront the fact that we should not be using taxpayer dollars to send to Israel to perpetrate this kind of violence."
Jayapal also responds to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's new order mandating testosterone testing and offering testosterone replacement therapy for servicemembers aged 30 and over. "Providing testosterone is actually gender affirming care," Jayapal remarks. Last year, Hegseth ordered a halt to all gender-affirming medical procedures for military servicemembers and banned openly trans people from service. These actions are "intrusive behavior," says Jayapal, "where the government is getting involved in prescribing what medication you do or don't take, without your consent."
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Has the United States launched a forever war on Iran? As the Trump administration renews its attacks on Iran, killing at least 35 civilians over the course of five days, political analyst Ali Vaez warns that the U.S. is inciting potentially never-ending "cycles of violence" with its manipulations of the diplomatic process. The U.S.'s unilateral renunciation of the "memorandum of understanding" as a "pretext for another round of war" has further eroded trust between the countries, says Vaez. "There is really no military solution," he concludes. "The best solution is for both sides to agree to return to the MOU and to respect its terms."
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The measure failed, but the level of support among Democrats exposed a stark shift in the party away from backing the Jewish state.
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Israeli settlers armed with clubs, rocks and a knife attacked a convoy of journalists in the West Bank on Saturday, the latest targeting of foreign journalists documenting the Israeli occupation. Four settlers have reportedly been detained over the attack. The convoy, which included CNN's Jeremy Diamond, were accompanying the father of Palestinian American Saif Musallet to the site where he was beaten to death by Israeli settlers one year ago. To date, no one has been arrested for Musallet's killing.
Independent journalist and Palestine solidarity activist Adele Shoko, who was in one of the cars, says the attack is part of an "unprecedented" escalation of settler activity in the occupied West Bank, taking place in so-called Area A, which is nominally under the full control of the Palestinian Authority. "Area C is almost entirely ethnically cleansed by the settlers backed by the Israeli state, and they moved to Area B, attacking big villages. But Area A is another level."
We also speak with Jasper Nathaniel, who was also in the convoy and has been attacked multiple times while reporting in the occupied West Bank. He says pro-Israel advocates who accuse journalists, activists and other international observers of staging "publicity stunts" are downplaying how routine settler intimidation and violence has become. "If you spend enough time in the West Bank — and by enough time, I mean a couple days — something like that is going to happen to you," says Nathaniel.
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