By Casey Gannon, Katelyn Polantz, Annie Grayer, CNN

(CNN) — Former special counsel Jack Smith is set to testify Wednesday in a closed-door deposition before the House Judiciary Committee regarding his prosecutions of Donald Trump.

Smith plans to testify about Trump’s alleged mishandling and retention of classified documents and his role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election, according to sources familiar with the investigation. He also will seek to clarify issues surrounding the use of phone records.

But there may be details Smith may not be willing or able to testify about on Wednesday, such as parts of the second volume of his report around Trump’s handling of classified documents in Mar-a-Lago, the source added.

The high-stakes interview could go hours and carries significant risk for Smith since Trump has called for him to be prosecuted, and how Smith answers questions could carry risks with a federal judge in Florida, the Justice Department and the Republican-controlled Judiciary Committee.

Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, subpoenaed Smith to testify privately, accusing Smith of running a “partisan and politically motivated” probe of Trump and conducting “abusive surveillance” of lawmakers, among other things.

Smith has continually denied his work was politically motivated and said that he is willing to testify publicly regarding his investigations into Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort and the attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election culminating in the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot.

“The idea that politics would play a role in big cases like this, it’s absolutely ludicrous and it’s totally contrary to my experience as a prosecutor,” Smith said during an interview in October with former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann at the University College London.

“Jack is looking forward to answering the committee’s questions, sharing the legal basis for his investigative steps, and discussing the evidence of President Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his unlawful possession of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago,” Smith’s attorney Peter Koski said in a statement to CNN.

Smith, a longtime public corruption prosecutor, was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November 2022 to oversee the investigations after Trump announced he was running for president again.

He brought criminal charges against Trump in 2023. The former president pleaded not guilty in both cases and neither went to trial. The case on mishandling classified documents ended with District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee, nullifying Smith’s office. The 2020 election and January 6 case was hamstrung by a landmark Supreme Court decision and dropped after Trump was re-elected.

Trump has continued to say that he did not do anything wrong on January 6, and since taking office for a second term, he has pardoned over 1,000 people who had been charged in connection to the violent attack.

What the Republicans want

Jordan has said the Republicans are interested in how the investigation into Trump came to be, how the special counsel’s office interacted with the bipartisan House Select Committee that investigated January 6, and the efforts by investigators to obtain information about members of Congress related to the US Capitol riot.

Some of those efforts took place before Smith took over when other established Justice Department offices and the FBI were running the investigations.

In his letter to Smith demanding testimony, Jordan said he believed Smith’s team had attempted to silen

Por MJ Lee, CNN

Cuando la semana pasada se hizo público un conjunto de fotos confiscadas de la cuenta de Gmail y la computadora portátil de Jeffrey Epstein, una en particular dejó atónita a Dani Bensky.

Era una foto de Epstein en su oficina, una habitación que le traía muchos recuerdos oscuros.

Recordaba el gran escritorio de caoba y un marco de fotos, aunque no las obras de arte que contenía. También se puso a buscar rastros de un tigre disecado que Epstein había guardado en esa oficina.

Sharlene Rochard reconoció de inmediato una de las habitaciones en otra serie de fotos publicadas a principios de este mes, tomadas en la isla privada de Jeffrey Epstein en el Caribe.

Al mismo tiempo que Rochard recordaba el abuso que sufrió en Little Saint James años atrás, otros detalles aparentemente más triviales también le llamaron la atención, como una mesa que no estaba en el mismo lugar que recordaba.

Y para Jess Michaels, ver el infame libro del cumpleaños 50 de Epstein le había provocado un recuerdo perturbador.

En él había un dibujo de varias mujeres masajeando diversas partes del cuerpo de Epstein. Esto la hizo recordar que Epstein le había dicho a principios de los 90 que hay partes del mundo donde un hombre puede recibir masajes de tres mujeres a la vez: una en la cabeza, una en los pies y una en el centro.

“Me hizo recordar ese momento cuando me dijo eso”, comentó Michaels. Al recordarlo, dice que ahora entiende que bromas sexuales como esa formaban parte de la estrategia de Epstein para manipularla poco a poco.

Rochard, Bensky y Michaels son solo algunas de las cientos de mujeres que se cree que fueron abusadas por Epstein y que se preparan para la esperada publicación por parte del Departamento de Justicia de los llamados archivos Epstein.

Un proyecto de ley promulgado por el presidente Donald Trump el mes pasado exige que el Departamento de Justicia publique los archivos antes del viernes, un momento que innumerables sobrevivientes de Epstein llevan años reclamando.

Pero la simple anticipación ha sido un desafío inmenso para ellos.

Los sobrevivientes de Epstein que hablaron con CNN afirmaron que no habían recibido ninguna comunicación del Departamento de Justicia antes de la publicación de los archivos.

Por ahora, desconocen por completo el momento y el contenido de la publicación, así como las medidas —si las hubiera— que el Gobierno pudiera estar tomando para garantizar que la información confidencial de las víctimas se maneje con cautela.

“Estamos trabajando en esto a ciegas ahora mismo”, declaró Bensky en una entrevista conjunta con otros sobrevivientes, un formato que el grupo solicitó porque dijeron que encuentran un gran consuelo en la presencia de los demás al hablar de su trauma. “Es un poco complicado porque no veremos los archivos antes de que lleguen. No sabemos a qué hora los entregarán el 19. No lo sabemos”.

El Departamento de Justicia no ha comentado públicamente ningún aspecto de sus planes de publicar los archivos de Epstein y no respondió a la solicitud de CNN de comentarios para esta historia.

Se espera que la próxima divulgación sea mucho más completa y de mayor alcance que cualquier información parcial sobre Epstein que se haya hecho pública hasta la fecha.

La divulgación intermitente de documentos e imágenes relacionados con Epstein en los últimos meses, incluso por parte de comités del Congreso, ya ha tenido un grave impacto psicológico, y los sobrevivientes se preparan para que la publicación del Departamento de Justicia sea especialmente difícil de gestionar.

Por Helen Regan, CNN

El miércoles se realizaron los primeros funerales de algunas de las 15 personas murieron en el peor tiroteo masivo ocurrido en Australia en casi tres décadas, mientras la policía presentaba cargos de homicidio y terrorismo contra uno de los presuntos atacantes.

Se produjeron escenas emotivas fuera del Jabad de Bondi en Sydney, donde una gran multitud rindió homenaje antes del servicio en honor al rabino Eli Schlanger, quien murió en la masacre del domingo que tuvo como blanco a familias judías que celebraban la primera noche de Hanukkah.

Los familiares lloraron cuando el ataúd de Schlanger, envuelto en terciopelo negro con una estrella de David dorada, fue llevado a la sinagoga.

Schlanger, de 41 años, organizó el evento “Janucá junto al mar” en Bondi Beach y fue rabino asistente en el Jabad de Bondi. Era padre de cinco hijos, cuyo hijo menor tiene solo dos meses.

Conocido como el “Rabino de Bondi”, Schlanger ha sido descrito como un capellán devoto y querido que trabajó incansablemente “para apoyar la vida judía en la comunidad de Bondi” a través de Chabad, una organización judía global que busca promover la identidad y la conexión judías, dijo la organización.

Durante el servicio, el suegro de Schlanger rompió a llorar al describirlo como “el mejor esposo, el mejor padre, el mejor hijo”.

“Lo que diga hoy será un eufemismo ante lo que significas para todos, para tu familia y para mí personalmente”, dijo el rabino Yehoram Ulman. “Eres mi hijo, mi amigo, mi confidente”.

“Un día sin ti es imposible.”

Antes del funeral, el primer ministro australiano, Anthony Albanese, dijo a los periodistas que Schlanger “era claramente muy querido en la comunidad, no solo por su familia”.

“Creo que los pensamientos y corazones de todos los australianos están con esas familias mientras se despiden de sus seres queridos”, dijo.

Los funerales de Reuven Morrison, de 62 años, Peter Meagher y el rabino Yaakov Levitan, de 39 años, también están programados para este miércoles.

Horas después del funeral de Schlanger, el hombre que presuntamente llevó a cabo la masacre junto a su padre fue acusado por la policía australiana de 59 delitos.

Naveed Akram, de 24 años, fue acusado de 15 cargos de homicidio, 40 cargos de intento de homicidio y otros cargos, incluida la comisión de un acto terrorista, dijo la policía este miércoles.

Sajid Akram, de 50 años, murió a raíz de disparos propinados por la policía, mientras que Naveed recibió un disparo y fue trasladado al hospital. Mal Lanyon, comisionado de policía del estado de Nueva Gales del Sur, declaró que las autoridades esperaban que recuperara la lucidez para ser imputado tras despertar del coma el martes.

“Intentaremos proceder con él en el hospital, desde allí será trasladado a un centro penitenciario”, dijo Lanyon.

Las autoridades australianas dicen que los presuntos atacantes estaban motivados por la “ideología del Estado Islámico”, y los funcionarios antiterroristas australianos creen que ambos recibieron entrenamiento de estilo militar mientras estaban en el sur de Filipinas el mes pasado, en un área conocida por el extremismo islamista, informó el martes la emisora ​​pública ABC.

Sajid Akram era propietario de armas con licencia, lo que generó preguntas desde la masacre sobre si las leyes de armas de Australia, ya estrictas y establecidas a nivel estatal, requieren un endurecimiento aún mayor.

Los líderes de Nueva Gales del Sur, donde se encuentra Sídney, están redactando una nueva legislación para endurecer las restricciones,

By Annie Grayer, Ella Nilsen, CNN

(CNN) — A group of moderate Republicans have warned for months that their party’s plan to eliminate clean energy tax credits would contribute to utility bills skyrocketing.

Now, their predictions are coming true. And more Republicans are starting to openly worry that the issue could hurt them in next year’s midterm elections.

Electricity and heating bills around the country are soaring. Since last September, residential electricity rates nationwide increased by 7.4% – with over a dozen states seeing double digit increases year-over-year.

And anger over high bills is showing up on the campaign trail. Emphasizing the rising cost of energy bills, food and health care, Democrats rode an affordability message to a string of victories in November, winning governors’ races in New Jersey and Virginia and flipping two seats on Georgia’s public utility commission.

The issue is “not going away,” said Adrian Deveny, founder of consulting firm Climate Vision and a former top Senate Democratic staffer. Republicans “should be very worried because they are going to be held accountable for it.”

The Republican leading the House GOP campaign arm, Rep. Richard Hudson, told CNN that Republicans are working on solutions to drive down energy costs.

“We’re living right now with high cost because of Democratic policies,” Hudson claimed. “They’re doing a very good job of trying to blame us for it.”

Most Republicans argue the party inherited the problem of high utility bill prices as a result of Biden administration policy, but there are still moderates who have been advocating for the embrace of as many energy sources as possible, including clean energy – and raising alarms that their party has not done enough to address the issue of high energy costs.

The party tensions came to a head on Tuesday when a small group of Republicans almost tanked a procedural vote on a bill looking to speed up the federal permitting and regulatory process for energy infrastructure projects.

High energy bills are being driven by a few key factors: the high cost of energy infrastructure, a spike in the cost of natural gas and the significant amount of power AI data centers are suddenly consuming. There’s a massive imbalance in the amount of electricity they need, and the amount of power that exists now to serve it.

“You have to get more power on the grid,” GOP Rep. Andrew Garbarino of New York told CNN.

Earlier this year, Republicans voted to do the opposite. At the behest of President Donald Trump, the GOP gutted generous Biden-era tax credits for renewable energy. That move, experts and some moderate Republicans fear, is taking the cheapest and fastest-to-build forms of energy off the table – in turn, making America’s growing electricity crisis worse.

“One of the arguments being made when we were talking about going after the credits in the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ is this is going to affect utility payments,” said Garbarino, who had initially pushed to not kill the tax credits before ultimately supporting the bill.

GOP Rep. Gabe Evans was another Republican who pushed his colleagues to extend the clean energy tax credits. The Colorado Republican was in House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office arguing for it a day before the final vote.

“Myself and a few other Republicans understand that business needs to have a runway to be able to make good decisions,” Evans

By Marshall Cohen, Holmes Lybrand, CNN

(CNN) — A new federal law requires the Justice Department to release by Friday a massive trove of investigative documents related to Jeffrey Epstein.

The release of the Epstein files, detailing the probes into the disgraced multimillionaire and sex offender who died in 2019, has attracted significant attention. The public has been captivated by Epstein’s lavish lifestyle, claims of underage sex trafficking, and his ties to President Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton, celebrities and foreign dignitaries.

Veto-proof majorities in Congress passed a law last month requiring the Justice Department to release all of the Epstein-related files in its custody. Trump fought hard to stop the law but signed it after being outmaneuvered by a bipartisan groundswell of support from lawmakers and the public.

However, it’s unclear exactly which records will be made public and how much of the material will be new. Over the 20-year saga surrounding Epstein’s sex crimes, thousands of files have already been disclosed through civil litigation and public records requests.

Here’s what you need to know about the files:

Why is this happening now?

The law, called the Epstein Files Transparency Act, is only three pages long and spells out in simple language what the Justice Department must release and what it can withhold.

The federal government is required to release “searchable and downloadable” copies of “all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials” related to Epstein and Maxwell that are in the possession of the Justice Department or FBI.

The law explicitly calls for the release of travel logs, materials about Epstein’s associates, any related immunity deals, relevant corporate records, all internal Justice Department communications about the investigations, and documents about Epstein’s 2019 death.

What’s in DOJ’s Epstein files?

CNN has reported that there’s more than 300 gigabytes of data that lives within the FBI’s primary electronic case management system, called Sentinel. This includes videos, photographs, audio recordings and written records.

The FBI conducted two probes into Epstein. The first began in 2006 after sex abuse allegations emerged in Florida. That led to a non-prosecution deal in which Epstein avoided federal charges. Much of the same conduct was also scrutinized by the Palm Beach Police Department, leading to Epstein’s 2008 guilty plea on state charges. He would serve just 13 months in a Florida jail for state prostitution charges, though he was allowed to spend nearly half of that time on “work release” at his office.

The second FBI investigation led to Epstein’s federal sex trafficking indictment in 2019. The bulk of the “Epstein files” comes from that New York-based second FBI probe, though there are also materials from the first investigation in Miami, CNN previously reported.

What has DOJ said it may release?

The Ju