Today in One Sentence. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche met with Jeffrey Epstein survivors after Sen. Thom Tillis said he would withhold the committee vote needed to advance Blanche’s nomination; the Justice Department refused to give New Mexico investigators unredacted Jeffrey Epstein records, leaving the state without the federal evidence it says it needs to investigate alleged abuse at Epstein’s former Zorro Ranch; the U.S. carried out a sixth consecutive day of strikes on Iran; Trump fired Seattle’s new U.S. attorney 54 minutes after after 17 federal judges unanimously appointed him; the FBI sent an evidence team to inspect the drained Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool for alleged vandalism even as four waterproofing experts say the peeling strongly suggests an installation flaw; Trump Media will sell Wall Street firms real-time access to Trump’s Truth Social posts; Trump promoted at least 21 companies on Truth Social within days of his investment accounts buying their stock; Trump’s longtime teleprompter operator was placed on unpaid leave after allegations that he used advance knowledge of more than a dozen of Trump’s speeches to make around $100,000 betting on Kalshi; and Trump is expected to use a primetime national address tonight to revive his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen and allege that China compromised U.S. voter data.

1/ Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche met with Jeffrey Epstein survivors after Sen. Thom Tillis said he would withhold the committee vote needed to advance Blanche’s nomination. The hourlong Justice Department meeting came after survivor Dani Bensky testified that Blanche had ignored repeated requests to meet, and that the department’s release of Epstein records had exposed victims’ personal information. Blanche acknowledged that about 1% of the redactions required correction, but defended the review of roughly 3 million records, while Bensky said survivors deserved to be heard directly, “not dismissed and ignored.” While the meeting resolved one hurdle, Blanche’s nomination remains at risk as Tillis and Sen. John Cornyn continue to demand guarantees that the proposed $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund cannot be revived. Tillis said he wants “definable, ratified, executed agreements,” not “a wink and a nod and a handshake.” (CNN / ABC News / Politico / Associated Press / New York Times / CBS News / Axios)

2/ The Justice Department refused to give New Mexico investigators unredacted Jeffrey Epstein records, leaving the state without the federal evidence it says it needs to investigate alleged abuse at Epstein’s former Zorro Ranch. New Mexico reopened the criminal probe in February, but Attorney General Raúl Torrez said that after more than 130 days the Justice Department produced only 31 pages of previously public material, unusable redactions, and photocopied news stories. The department said “federal law, court orders, and privacy protections for victims and witnesses” prevents the release of millions of unredacted documents, even though federal prosecutors routinely modify protective orders for state criminal investigations. Torrez gave the department until July 31 before pursuing “all available legal remedies,” while acting Attorney General Todd Blanche insisted federal officials are “continuing to work with” the state. (Reuters / Axios / Washington Post)

3/ The U.S. carried out a sixth consecutive day of strikes on Iran as both sides continued their fight over control of the Strait of Hormuz. Central Command said the attacks were intended to degrade Iranian military capabilities, while U.S. forces enforcing the renewed blockade redirected three commercial vessels, disabled one, and boarded another. Shipping through the strait fell to 13 vessels, from more than 130 a day before the war. Iran warned that it would target regional infrastructure if the U.S. struck Iranian power plants or bridges. (Politico / New York Times / Bloomberg / Reuters / ABC News / Associated Press)

4/ Trump fired Seattle’s new U.S. attorney 54 minutes after after 17 federal judges unanimously appointed him. Roger Rogoff was sworn in before 8 a.m. and removed by email while waiting to meet Charles Neil Floyd. Floyd’s 120-day interim term expired in February, and Trump never submitted him for Senate confirmation. Instead, the Justice Department renamed him first assistant while leaving the job vacant. Rogoff retained employment lawyers and is considering a lawsuit that could test the limits of both the judges’ appointment power and the president’s removal authority. (Associated Press / New York Times / CNN / CBS News)

5/ The FBI sent an evidence team to inspect the drained Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool for alleged vandalism even as four waterproofing experts say the peeling strongly suggests an installation flaw. Investigators used laser-scanning and measuring equipment after Trump claimed that vandals had cut hundreds of feet of the newly installed liner. Although former Olympic canoeist David Hearn and three others were charged with removing or damaging small sections after it had already begun peeling, no one has been accused of making the long gashes Trump described. And the administration hasn’t provided evidence that those gashes exist. The experts found that all seven documented failures tracked seams between sections applied at different times, suggesting the coating didn’t properly bond. (Washington Post / New York Times / The Guardian)

6/ Trump Media will sell Wall Street firms real-time access to Trump’s Truth Social posts, allowing paying customers to receive “licensed, real-time access” to policy decisions and market-moving news.The new Truth API data feed will include real-time access to posts from the platform’s top 10 trending accounts. Trump owns about 41% of Trump Media through a revocable trust. “It’s a huge conflict of interest,” Ethics attorney Virginia Canter said, arguing that Trump is funneling official information through “a private channel in which he has a private interest.” (Wall Street Journal / Axios / CNBC)

  • Trump promoted at least 21 companies on Truth Social within days of his investment accounts buying their stock. A review of Trump’s financial disclosure and social media posts found at least 44 purchases in 21 companies during the week before he praised the businesses, their executives, or their products, including some announcing government actions that could benefit them. In one case, Trump bought between $500,000 and $1 million in Tesla stock the day before saying he wouldn’t “destroy Elon’s companies,” while in another, he bought between $200,000 and $500,000 in Nvidia stock days before promising to expedite permits for the chipmaker. While Trump’s trades are handled by outside financial managers, unlike recent past presidents he hasn’t placed his assets in a blind trust and can know what he owns. (CNN)

7/ Trump’s longtime teleprompter operator was placed on unpaid leave after allegations that he used advance knowledge of more than a dozen of Trump’s speeches to make around $100,000 betting on Kalshi. The prediction market said its surveillance system flagged Gabriel Perez’s wagers on the words and phrases that Trump would say, froze more than $90,000 in profits, and referred the trades to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Perez, who has operated Trump’s teleprompter since 2016, is reportedly negotiating a settlement that could require him to surrender the profits and stop making similar trades. Trump called the allegations “a disgrace.” (Politico / CBS News / ABC News / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / NPR / CNBC)

8/ Trump is expected to use a primetime national address tonight to revive his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen and allege that China compromised U.S. voter data. A 2021 intelligence assessment, however, concluded with high confidence that Beijing didn’t try to influence the election’s outcome or interfere with election infrastructure. Nevertheless, officials familiar with the speech said Trump may also claim that the CIA knew about the alleged breach and withheld it from him. The address comes as Trump continues to pressure Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require photo identification to vote and proof of citizenship to register. Trump’s national address is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET tonight. (Associated Press / CNBC / CNN / New York Times / CBS News / Politico)

  • Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee expressed concern that Trump will selectively declassify material to “relitigiate debunked 2020 election conspiracies.” The letter reads: “The facts of the 2020 election have long been settled. The Intelligence Community assessed in a declassified Intelligence Community Assessment from 2021 that, ‘We have no indications that any foreign actor attempted to interfere in the 2020 US elections by altering any technical aspect of the voting process.’ No intelligence to the contrary has ever been provided to the Committee, despite repeated requests for updates.” (Politico)
  • Republicans are “scared shitless” about Trump’s promise to reveal “really big news” on election security. “Republican operatives, including those in Trump’s inner circle, have pleaded for months for an unrelenting focus on the economy. And while the president has talked up his tax cuts and Trump Accounts during campaign stops, his decision to use a rare prime time address to focus on election integrity is a missed opportunity.” (Politico)
  • ABC and NBC will not air Trump’s speech. Instead, the networks will run Trump’s speech on their streaming platforms, which generally draw a fraction of the viewers that their traditional broadcast channels. (Reuters)

The 2026 midterms are in 110 days; the 2028 presidential election is in 845 days.