By Jamie Gumbrecht, Sarah Owermohle, CNN

(CNN) — US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other health officials said Thursday that the federal government will block hospitals and doctors from providing transgender care to children, saying, “this is not medicine, it is malpractice.”

“These procedures fail to meet professionally recognized standards of care,” Kennedy said. “Medical professionals or entities providing sex-rejecting procedures to children are out of compliance with these standards of health care.”

Health officials said they expect to emphasize psychosocial assessment and support, including “compassionate, developmentally appropriate counseling,” even as the acknowledged there are a limited number of mental health care providers available.

At an event Thursday morning, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said the proposed rules would prohibit hospitals from participating in Medicare and Medicaid if they provide care such as puberty blockers and surgeries for transgender minors.

US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary also said the agency is sending warning letters to 12 makers and sellers of breast binders who marketed or sold the devices for treatment of gender dysphoria in children.

National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said the research agency will end support for research into gender transition, saying, “it was junk science to begin with.”

HHS leaders on Thursday cited their own review of evidence and reports from other countries, many of which have faced sharp criticism.

Gender identity care, which is sometimes called gender-affirming care, is a multidisciplinary approach to help a person transition from their assigned gender – the one a clinician assigned them at birth, based mostly on anatomic characteristics – to the gender by which they identify. It can include mental health care or age-appropriate medical care such as hormone treatments, puberty blockers, gynecologic and urologic care and reproductive treatments.

Major mainstream medical associations – including the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the Endocrine Society, the Read more

By Casey Gannon, CNN

(CNN) — Former special counsel Jack Smith did not invoke his Fifth Amendment rights during eight hours of testimony Wednesday behind closed doors to the House Judiciary Committee, the panel’s chairman said.

“He did not take the Fifth like some of his deputies did,” Jim Jordan, an Ohio Republican, said on Fox News on Thursday.

Smith defended both of his investigations into then-former President Donald Trump, telling members that he charged Trump regardless of his political party affiliation. Smith and his attorneys have previously said that he wanted the opportunity to correct mischaracterizations about his investigations.

Previous interviewees have invoked their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination, Jordan said on Fox.

“You know we’ve deposed three of his deputies,” he said. “We got more coming in, and one of them took the Fifth 70-some times. We’ve actually referred that individual because we think he was obstructing our investigation.”

Some of Smith’s deputies who worked on his investigations have appeared before the committee already for closed door testimony. Two of his deputies, Jay Bratt and Thomas Windom, invoked their Fifth Amendment rights. The committee has already made a criminal referral to the Justice Department for Windom for declining to answer some questions.

It is unclear what the committee’s next steps are for Smith, but Jordan said the panel may hold a public hearing. The former special counsel previously asked to testify publicly, but Wednesday’s eight-hour appearance remained behind closed doors.

Jordan was also briefly asked on Fox if the committee plans to take any legal action against Smith following his testimony.

“I don’t want to get into that, and I can’t get into the details of the conversation,” Jordan said.

The panel this week also sent requests for interviews for four more of Smith’s deputies who worked on the investigations.

“We may look to have a public hearing where we bring Mr. Smith in in front of the committee, but we’re going to just keep moving through that,” Jordan said.

Some Democratic members of the committee, including ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin, came and spoke to reporters halfway through Smith’s testimony. Democrats have continually said that Smith should be allowed to testify publicly.

“Every other special counsel has been able to come here and testify,” Raskin said. “Robert Mueller has been able to testify. Robert Hur has been able to testify. All the special counsels and independent counsels have come in.”

Raskin also said hours into the testimony that Smith had answered “every single question to the satisfaction of any reasonable minded person

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By Devon M. Sayers, Pete Muntean, CNN

(CNN) — Several people are dead after a small private jet crashed shortly after takeoff in Statesville, North Carolina, according to a local sheriff’s office official.

The crash happened shortly after 10:15 a.m., Iredell County Chief Deputy Bill Hamby told CNN. The exact number of fatalities is not known at this point, he added.

“A Cessna C550 crashed while landing at Statesville Regional Airport in North Carolina around 10:20 a.m. local time on Thursday, Dec. 18. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate. The NTSB will lead the investigation and provide any updates,” the Federal Aviation Administration told CNN.

A witness who works at the airport told CNN she saw the plane on fire after the crash.

“My desk faces where it happened. I was just sitting here, and then I heard a loud boom, and our hangar shook a little. I got up to look and that’s when I saw the flames and fire everywhere,” said Victoria, who works for an aviation company and asked to be identified only by her first name due to privacy concerns.

The NTSB will investigate the crash, agency spokesperson Sarah Taylor Sulick told CNN.

At a short news conference this afternoon, local authorities shared little information about the crash. We have “no information on any cause,” said airport manager John Ferguson.

Statesville Regional Airport, about 45 miles north of Charlotte, is an uncontrolled airport with no control tower. Pilots are required to self-report their position on and near the airport using a common radio frequency.

The airport remains closed, according to the airport manager.

Preliminary flight tracking data shows a Cessna Citation 550 left Statesville Regional Airport around 10 a.m. from runway 10, traveled about five miles, then made a near-immediate left turn back toward the airport. The plane did not climb higher than 2,000 feet, according to FlightAware.

Low clouds, light rain, and visibility of less than three miles were reported about 80 minutes after the crash, according to an automated weather station at the airport. It is not clear if these conditions were present when the plane crashed.

“The Statesville Regional Airport provides corporate aviation facilities for Fortune 500 companies and several NASCAR teams,” according to the city website

CNN’s Caroll Alvarado contributed to this report.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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By Annie Grayer, CNN

(CNN) — Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released photos from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate Thursday — the latest in a series of intermittent disclosures that have fueled significant political intrigue in recent weeks about who may have been associated with the convicted sex offender.

The five photographs, released without additional context by the members of the panel, include a Ukrainian passport with a female notation, philosopher Noam Chomsky on a plane with Epstein, and Bill Gates posing for a photograph with a woman whose face was redacted by Democrats on the panel.

The images also include a screenshot of a snippet of a text conversation in which a person is discussing sending girls.

“I don’t know try to send someone else. I have a friend scout she sent me some girls today. But she asks 1000$ per girl. I will send u girls now. Maybe someone will be good for J?” the series of messages reads. The individual then sends a detailed description including name, “18 y old,” height, measurements, weight, a note on the Schengen area and a “departure city.” Many of the details are redacted, though the age, a check mark next to Schengen and Russia are all visible.

There is no context provided around this conversation, and it is unclear who the participants in the messaging exchange are.

A fifth photograph shows a woman’s foot with a quote from “Lolita,” the Vladimir Nabokov novel about a man’s sexual obsession with a 12-year-old girl, written on it.

It was not immediately clear when or where they were taken, or by whom.

Democrats noted the estate did not provide any context around the images shared with the committee and said they have publicized them as they were received, aside from their redactions. Democrats have chosen which photos to release since the panel received more than 95,000 images from the estate last week that lawmakers are still combing through.

The members of the panel have said with each release that they’ve redacted any personally identifiable information of victims and survivors, or if it is unknown whether a person pictured is a victim of Epstein’s abuse.

Oversight Democrats have released portions of the photos turned over to the committee from Epstein’s estate last week, while the Republican-led panel has typically released documents and images in single drops once lawmakers have gone through them in full. Republicans on the committee have accused Democratic members of “cherry-picking” images to paint a specific narrative.

“Oversight Democrats will continue to release photographs and documents from the Epstein estate to provide transparency for the American people,” Ranking Member Robert Garcia said in a statement. “As we approach the deadline for the Epstein Files Transparency Act, these new images raise more questions about what exactly the Department of Justice has in its possession. We must end this White House cover-up, and the DOJ must release the Epstein files now.”

Previous photos from Epstein’s estate released by Democrats have depicted the late financier’s private island and the many powerful figures in his orbit.

Gates and Chomsky have previously reported to have known Epstein, as well as have been pictured in previous images from the estate. CNN has reached out to representatives for each men.

A spokesperson for Gates has before repeatedly denied that Epstein ever worked for him. Gates has previously said he regrets meeting with Epstein, telling CNN’s Anderson Cooper in 2021: “It was a huge mistake to spend time with him, to give him the credibility of being there.”

Chomsky has previously declined CNN requests for comment. He is known to have once wrote a letter of recommendation for Epstein, spoken with Epstein about science and