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House speaker condemns Trump Justice Department monitoring of lawmakers’ Epstein document review

Kraig Pakulski 0 18 Article rating: No rating
Attorney General Pam Bondi holds a piece of paper labelled

By Holmes Lybrand, Annie Grayer, Manu Raju, CNN

(CNN) — Attorney General Pam Bondi obtained Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal’s search history of the unredacted Jeffrey Epstein files and even President Donald Trump’s most powerful ally in Congress has a problem with it.

House Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday said the Justice Department’s tracking of lawmakers’ search history was inappropriate, a rare rebuke from the Republican who is usually in lockstep with the administration.

“I think members should obviously have the right to peruse those at their own speed and with their own discretion and I don’t think it’s appropriate for anybody to be tracking that,” Johnson told CNN. “I will echo that to anybody involved in the DOJ.”

Johnson’s comments come after photographs of Bondi’s notes during a Wednesday congressional hearing revealed the Justice Department is tracking which documents lawmakers are reviewing in the unredacted Jeffrey Epstein files, prompting some on Capitol Hill to sound the alarm.

CNN first reported the apparent surveillance from a photo taken of Bondi’s notes during her testimony, which included Jayapal’s “search history” of the documents, with a list of which files the congresswoman had searched.

Jayapal told CNN she did not know the Justice Department had surveilled her search until CNN contacted her Wednesday for comment on the matter.

“I think everyone should be concerned about this. It’s a violation of our separation of powers,” Jayapal said. “We should be able to look at any document we want and not feel like it’s going to be surveilled or used against us in any way. And this was just so obviously egregious.”

When Johnson initially called the allegation of DOJ tracking lawmakers’ search history “unsubstantiated” on Wednesday, Jayapal, who is close with the speaker from his days serving on the Judiciary panel, immediately called him to explain what happened.

“I said, ‘Mike, it’s real. That’s my search history exactly in the order that I searched it,’” Jayapal told CNN of her conversation with Johnson.

Lawmakers have been scheduling times this week to go into a Justice Department building in Washington, DC, to review unredacted versions of the files and have since pressured the Justice Department to unredact the names of individuals who were at one time considered as co-conspirators in Epstein’s crimes.

Lawmakers have not been allowed to bring phones or members of their staff into the building to review the documents and are limited to four computers set up with the unredacted files.

When Jayapal went into the room to view the unredacted Epstein files, a Justice Department employee logged her into one of the four computers available for lawmakers, the lawmaker said.

During the duration of her time in the room, Jayapal said DOJ staffers remained with her, and at one point one of the employees sat directly behind her, able to view her computer screen. Even though lawmakers were allowed to bring in notes with them, Jayapal said she was instructed to only take notes on the pads of paper the Justice Department provided her.

Trump Administration revokes finding that certain greenhouse gas emission impact public health

Kraig Pakulski 0 31 Article rating: No rating

WASHINGTON D.C. (KEYT) – On Thursday, the Trump Administration formally announced the removal of a 2009 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule concluding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health.

The rule, also known as the endangerment finding, was the basis of the statutory authority of greenhouse gas emissions standards nationwide and removes current greenhouse gas emissions standards for light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicles as well as heavy-duty engines.

"Within 30 days of the date of this order, the Administrator of the EPA, in collaboration with the heads of any other relevant agencies, shall submit joint recommendations to the Director of OMB [Office of Management and Budget] on the legality and continuing applicability of the Administrator’s findings, “Endangerment and Cause or Contribute Findings for Greenhouse Gases Under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act,” Final Rule, 74 FR 66496 (December 15, 2009)," stated an executive order signed by President Trump on Jan. 20, 2025.

Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act empowers the EPA to set national emissions standards for new motorized vehicles and engines stating, "The [EPA] Administrator shall by regulation prescribe (and from time to time revise) in accordance with the provisions of this section, standards applicable to the emission of any air pollutant from any class or classes of new motor vehicles or new motor vehicle engines, which in his judgment cause, or contribute to, air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare."

In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled in Massachusetts v. EPA that greenhouse gas emissions are air pollutants within the language of the Clean Air Act and in 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld the ruling.

In December of 2009, the Administrator of the EPA certified that concentrations of six greenhouse gases -carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride- threatened public health.

That finding was a prerequisite for implementing national emissions standards for new vehicles beginning in 2010.

"This determination had no basis in fact whatsoever," argued President Trump when announcing the revocation of the finding on Thursday. "On the contrary, over the generations, fossil fuels have saved millions of lives and lifted billions of people out of poverty all over the world."

Thursday's announced changes to national emissions standards comes on the heels of last years actions by the Trump Administration to prevent states such as California to set higher standards.

Section 209 of the Clean Air Act allows states to request a waiver of the federal preemption the federal law created concerning vehicle emissions standards.

Waivers for vehicle emissions standards must be submitted and approved by the EPA before state-specific standards can be enforced.

Last year, California was denied waivers to have higher emissions standards than establishe

Santa Maria City Rangers Report Latest Homelessness Trends

Kraig Pakulski 0 27 Article rating: No rating

SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) - Santa Maria’s City Rangers presented a report to the Recreation and Parks Commission Tuesday evening at City Hall regarding latest observations in the homelessness population.

The report reveals that addiction to narcotics is one of the most common challenges for homeless individuals.

The latest trends reveal an influx of individuals from Los Angeles, Ventura, and Kern counties living unhoused in the Santa Maria Valley.

Homeless individuals are found in parks, right-of-way areas such as on-and off-ramps, facilities owned by the city, and the Santa Maria Riverbed.

Measurable impacts to the community include vandalism, the closure of park restrooms four days each week, and an increase in shopping cart thefts.

City Rangers say their primary end-game is to connect individuals to assistance resources provided by social services.

There are a total of 16 different local organizations rangers can connect individuals to.

The report shows the most common challenge facing rangers upon approach to unhoused individuals is refusal of assistance.

Rangers say a common reason for refusal is that these individuals don’t trust the organizations providing assistance.

A significant number of camp clean-ups involve the retrieval of illegal narcotics, and rangers say addiction often contributes to an individual’s refusal.

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The post Santa Maria City Rangers Report Latest Homelessness Trends appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

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