Judge blocks Trump administration efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, largest abortion provider in US – live

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JD Vance is in his home state today to continue promoting the GOP’s sweeping tax-and-border bill. He’s in Canton, Ohio, to talk about the bill’s “benefits for hardworking American families and businesses,” according to his office. The visit marks Vance’s second trip this month to sell Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill as he becomes its chief promoter on the road.

In West Pittston, Pennsylvania this month, Vance told attendees at an industrial machine shop that they should be able to keep more of their pay in their pockets. The White House sees the new law as a clear political boon, sending Vance to promote it in swing congressional districts.

Talks between Canada and the US on a trade deal are at an intense phase, Canadian prime minister Mark Carney told reporters on Monday, reiterating that an agreement without any tariffs at all was unlikely.

The two sides are working towards an agreement by August 1, the date Trump is threatening to impose a 35% tariff on some Canadian imports.

“The negotiations are at an intense phase. It’s a complex negotiation ... we will only sign a deal that’s the right deal,” Carney said. “There is a landing zone that’s possible, but we have to get there, and we’ll see what happens,” he told a televised press conference in the Atlantic province of Prince Edward Island.

The US struck a framework trade agreement with the European Union on Sunday, imposing a 15% import tariff on most EU goods.

“It’s improbable that there will be deals without any tariffs at all,” he said when asked whether Canada would escape being hit. “But there is a question about the level, there are questions about the size of tariffs.”

Planned Parenthood leaders welcome court ruling

Dominique Lee, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, said in a statement:

“We’re encouraged by today’s ruling, which protects access to care for Medicaid patients in Massachusetts while this case moves forward. At a time when reproductive health care access is under constant attack, this decision is a powerful reminder that patients, not politics, should guide health care. In Massachusetts and beyond, we will keep fighting to ensure everyone can turn to the provider they trust, no matter their insurance or ZIP code.”

Shireen Ghorbani, interim president of Planned Parenthood Association of Utah, also released a statement:

“We are grateful that now all Planned Parenthood patients with Medicaid can come to their local health centers for the high-quality, essential care they need. Generations have relied on Planned Parenthood as experts in sexual and reproductive health care and as a welcoming and trusted provider in their communities. We will continue this fight in the courts to protect our patients’ freedom to get the care they need.”

The judge’s ruling on Planned Parenthood replaces a previous edict handed down by US District Judge Indira Talwani in Boston last week. Talwani initially granted a preliminary injunction specifically blocking the government from cutting Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood members that didn’t provide abortion care or didn’t meet a threshold of at least $800,000 in Medicaid reimbursements in a given year.

“Patients are likely to suffer adverse health consequences where care is disrupted or unavailable,” Talwani wrote in the order today. “In particular, restricting Members’ ability to provide healthcare services threatens an increase in unintended pregnancies and attendant complications because of reduced access to effective contraceptives, and an increase in undiagnosed and untreated STIs.”

Judge blocks effort to defund Planned Parenthood and says it must continue to get Medicaid funds

A judge has blocked the Trump administration’s efforts to defund Planned Parenthood and orders that it keep getting Medicaid funds.

A federal judge ruled today that Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide must continue to be reimbursed for Medicaid funding as the nation’s largest abortion provider fights Trump’s administration over efforts to defund the organization in his signature tax legislation.

Planned Parenthood had sued the Trump administration earlier this month over the provision in Trump’s sweeping domestic policy bill that would strip funding from health centers operated by the reproductive healthcare and abortion provider.

“The true design of the Defund Provision is simply to express disapproval of, attack, and punish Planned Parenthood, which plays a particularly prominent role in the public debate over abortion,” Planned Parenthood said in its lawsuit.

Donald Trump has asked a US judge to order a swift deposition for billionaire Rupert Murdoch in the president’s defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal over its 17 July article about Trump’s relationship with the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, reports Reuters.

Dropped cases against LA protesters reveal false claims from federal agents

US immigration officers made false and misleading statements in their reports about several Los Angeles protesters they arrested during the massive demonstrations that rocked the city in June, according to federal law enforcement files obtained by the Guardian.

The officers’ testimony was cited in at least five cases filed by the US Department of Justice amid the unrest. The justice department has charged at least 26 people with “assaulting” and “impeding” federal officers and other crimes during the protests over immigration raids. Prosecutors, however, have since been forced to dismiss at least eight of those felonies, many of them which relied on officers’ inaccurate reports, court records show.

The justice department has also dismissed at least three felony assault cases it brought against Angelenos accused of interfering with arrests during recent immigration raids, the documents show.

The rapid felony dismissals are a major embarrassment for the Trump-appointed US attorney for southern California, Bill Essayli, and appeared to be the result of an unusual series of missteps by the justice department, former federal prosecutors said.

The Guardian’s review of records found:

• Out of nine “assault” and “impeding” felony cases the justice department filed immediately after the start of the protests and promoted by the attorney general, Pam Bondi, prosecutors dismissed seven of them soon after filing the charges.

• In reports that led to the detention and prosecution of at least five demonstrators, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents made false statements about the sequence of events and misrepresented incidents captured on video.

• One DHS agent accused a protester of shoving an officer, when footage appeared to show the opposite: the officer forcefully pushed the protester.

• One indictment named the wrong defendant, a stunning error that has jeopardized one of the government’s most high-profile cases.

Trump claims he hasn't been 'overly interested' in furor about his links to Jeffrey Epstein

Asked about his denials that his name appears in the Epstein files and whether the attorney general would have to tell him if it did, Donald Trump said he hadn’t been “overly interested” in the whole affair and, as usual, blamed the Democrats.

I haven’t been overly interested.

You know, it’s a hoax that’s been built up way beyond proportion. I can say this. Those files were run by the worst scum on earth … The whole thing is a hoax. They ran the files.

He suggested that his enemies could have put material in the files that was fake, and added that if the Democrats had had damaging material to use against him, they would have used it before the election.

Referring to the Wall Street Journal’s report that he drew a picture of a nude woman as part of a lewd birthday letter for Jeffrey Epstein when they were close friends, Trump said:

I don’t do drawings. I’m not a drawing person. I don’t do drawings. Sometimes you would say, would you draw a building? And I’ll draw four lines and a little roof, you know, for a charity stuff. But I’m not a drawing person. I don’t do drawings of women, that I can tell you.

He also claimed his poll ratings had increased by 4.5 points since this “ridiculous Epstein stuff” has been in the news “because people don’t buy it”. (He is of course ignoring the fact that much of the criticism and pressure has come from his own furious support base and even the likes of House speaker Mike Johnson have called for the release of the files).

Trump claims nobody has approached him about giving Ghislaine Maxwell a pardon

Asked if he would consider giving Ghislaine Maxwell a pardon, Donald Trump said:

Nobody’s approached me with it. Nobody’s asked me about it. It’s in the news about that, that aspect of it, but right now, it would be inappropriate to talk about it.

Talking and negotiation 'most sensible' option for securing hostages in Gaza, says Trump

Asked what the “various plans” are that he earlier referred to for securing the remaining hostages, which he said he had been discussing with Benjamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump said “there are a couple of alternatives, some of them are very strong”.

“The most sensible alternative is talking and negotiation,” he said.

He then added that talking would be more difficult now as there weren’t as many hostages left because Hamas had been using them as a shield.

I said … the number’s going to be at a point where you’re not going to be able to get them back, unless you’re going to be very energetic, or to put it a different way, unless you’re going to be very ruthless, violent.