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(WASHINGTON) — Leading voices in President Donald Trump’s MAGA base who had been critical for days of the president and administration’s handling of the Epstein files are now rallying to Trump’s defense following a story in the Wall Street Journal, and are celebrating the administration’s move to release grand jury testimony, potentially cooling the backlash among his supporters.

The administration angered many of Trump’s supporters when it announced last week that it would not release any additional files on Jeffrey Epstein, the wealthy financier and convicted sex offender who died by suicide in jail in 2019, after earlier promising to do so.

Prior to joining the administration, Trump boosters like Kash Patel and Dan Bongino had stoked conspiracy theories about an Epstein “client list” that allegedly included the names of wealthy Democratic elites. But elevated to leadership positions in the FBI, both Patel and Bongino signed off on a memo stating that no such list existed — angering some of Trump’s most vocal supporters.

That changed on Thursday, when the Wall Street Journal published a letter it alleged Trump had sent Epstein in 2003 for his 50th birthday. ABC News has not been able to confirm the existence of the letter.

Trump, who had been friendly with Epstein for around 15 years before they had a falling out in 2004, denied to the Journal that he had written the letter, and on Friday filed a defamation lawsuit against the paper claiming damages of not less than $10 billion.

Leading Trump supporters rallied to the president’s side.

Following the Journal article, MAGA voices who had been some of Trump’s most vocal critics over the last week, including Megyn Kelly, Charlie Kirk, Jack Posobiec, Laura Loomer, Benny Johnson and even Elon Musk rushed to defend the president.

Posobiec, a MAGA podcaster who had been one of the loudest voices pushing the Epstein issue, told former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, “We’re so back. Everyone is firing on all cylinders. The MAGA movement is completely united behind this fight.”

“We have to be on offensive all the time,” Bannon told his online audience, saying of Trump, “They tried to actually destroy him.”

Trump also announced Thursday that he was asking Attorney General Pam Bondi to “produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval” in regard to the Epstein case — prompting accolades from supporters who had been pushing for the release of more Epstein material.

Johnson, another MAGA podcaster, tweeted “victory” in response to the news.

Kirk, on his show, urged his viewers to “thank President Trump” for pushing his administration to release the testimony.

“So for any of you in the audience that were a little uneasy, that were a little anxious, I think it’s morally incumbent on you to say thank you President Trump, thank you for stepping up and for doing this,” Kirk said. “Thank you President Trump, for fulfilling what you said you were going to do, because he does deserve credit.”

The Journal story appears to have redirected MAGA supporters’ criticism and unified them against a familiar target: the media. But whether the shift in support will hold is unclear. While figures like Kirk and Bannon have framed the grand jury promise as a major win, the release of the testimony itself could take time, as officials must first assess its impact on victims then win the approval of a federal judge.

And because the grand jury transcripts represent only a small fraction of the files on Epstein, it’s unclear if the contents will satisfy members of Trump’s base who have been demanding the release of all Epstein materials. The last time the administration released Epstein-related files in February, the move sparked further questions and contributed to the backlash the president and his administration are still dealing with today.

For now, though, Kirk said on his show that “it was very fun to see” the MAGA base rallying around Trump following the publication of the Journal’s story.

Seemingly to underscore the point, Kirk opened his show with a snippet of Joe Cocker’s performance of the song “With a Little Help From My Friends” — in an apparent wink and a nod to the story helping to unite the MAGA movement behind the president once again.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump’s tariffs tanked markets and unleashed recession forecasts when the president unveiled sweeping levies little more than 100 days ago. Now, as Trump continues to tout the policy, the economy is humming along and Wall Street is responding to each new tariff with a shrug.

A recent round of tariff threats has added a new layer of uncertainty, but the monthslong track record affords economists an opportunity to evaluate what the tariffs have yielded so far.

Analysts who spoke to ABC News credited the tariffs for delivering higher-than-expected tax revenue and helping to elicit some commitments from companies bent on investing in new production in the U.S.

But, some analysts cautioned, those company commitments carry a long time horizon and wiggle room for firms to renege upon the spending as the tariff policy fluctuates. Meanwhile, tariffs have started to push up some prices, risking a bout of inflation that could hurt consumers and disrupt the economy, they said.

Trump has rolled back many of his steepest tariffs over recent months, including a sky-high levy on China, the top source of U.S. imports. In recent days, however, Trump announced plans to slap tariffs as high as 50% on dozens of countries, including 25% tariffs on top U.S. trade partners such as Japan and South Korea.

In all, consumers currently face an effective tariff rate of 20.6%, the highest since 1910, the Yale Budget Lab found this week.

The Trump administration touts tariffs as part of a wider set of “America First economic policies,” which have “sparked trillions of dollars in new investment in U.S. manufacturing, technology, and infrastructure,” according to the White House’s website.

In theory, levies on imports incentivize firms to build manufacturing in the U.S. as a means of averting the tax burden.

Scores of companies have pledged new investment in the U.S., including tech giants Apple and Nvidia, pharmaceutical companies Merck and Johnson & Johnson as well as automakers Hyundai and Stellantis, the White House says.

“The whole idea is to encourage reshoring of manufacturing and change the balance of trade. That could all have some positive impact,” Morris Cohen, a professor emeritus of manufacturing and supply chains at Duke University, told ABC News.

Companies face the choice of making costly, long-term investment decisions amid Trump’s on-again, off-again tariff policies, which the White House has altered numerous times since Trump took office, some analysts said.

A pair of court rulings in May thrust some of the tariffs into legal limbo, adding another layer of uncertainty as federal appeals court judges determine whether a major swath of the policies pass legal muster.

“The companies making promises are trying to politically deal with Trump,” Matias Vernengo, a professor of economics at Bucknell University, told ABC News, adding that he expects many firms will ultimately fall short of their commitments.

“It would be nice if he announced a tariff policy and stuck to it. But that’s not what’s happening,” Vernengo added.

The Trump administration has rebuked criticism of its tariff approach, saying the flexibility affords White House officials leverage in trade negotiations with countries targeted by the levies.

The tariffs, meanwhile, have yielded a burst of tax revenue as importers to pay the federal government when they bring targeted goods into the U.S. The U.S. recorded about $27 billion in tariff-related tax revenue last month, bringing total payments so far this year to more than $100 billion, Treasury Department data showed.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, said tariff revenue could exceed $300 billion by the end of 2025, which would amount to nearly 1% of U.S. gross domestic product. That revenue could help ease government deficits, some analysts noted.

“The tariff revenues are more substantial than I anticipated at the start of the year,” Zandi said, noting that tariff levels had remained higher than he expected.

Still, Zandi voiced skepticism about the staying power of the tax payments.

“It would not be prudent for lawmakers to count on this revenue in the future, as it is unclear whether the tariffs will remain in place given they may be found to be illegal or future Presidents may decide to lower or eliminate them under executive order,” Zandi said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. economy so far has defied analysts’ fears of a large, tariff-induced price spike. Still, tariffs contributed modestly to the rise of inflation last month, analysts previously told ABC News, citing the price hikes in product categories made up primarily of imports.

Consumer prices rose 2.7% in June compared to a year ago, matching economists’ expectations but marking an uptick from a month earlier. Still, the inflation rate clocked in below the 3% recorded in January, the month Trump took office.

The price of toys — a product dependent almost entirely on imports — increased six times faster in June than it had just two months prior. Commonly imported products like clothes, furniture and bed linens were also among the goods that jumped in price.

Vernengo, of Bucknell University, said tariffs would likely push up inflation for a temporary period, putting pressure on the Fed to keep interest rates elevated and in turn risk an economic slowdown.

“Prices will go up as Trump imposes tariffs. Then, as tariffs are established and prices adjust themselves, they will stop growing,” Vernengo said. “It’s the Fed’s reaction that will matter more in my view than the tariffs.”

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(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department formally requested Friday the unsealing of grand jury records tied to federal investigations into Jeffrey Epstein, according to a court filing.

President Donald Trump announced the previous day that he ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek the release of additional Epstein material following pushback from conservatives and others for more transparency in the case.

“At the direction of the Attorney General, the Department of Justice hereby moves the Court to release grand jury transcripts associated with the above-referenced indictment,” the motion said.

The department said in the filing that the request follows “extensive public interest” generated since DOJ and FBI issued its July 6 memo regarding their decision not to release any further files from federal investigations into Epstein.

“While the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation continue to adhere to the conclusions reached in the Memorandum, transparency to the American public is of the utmost importance to this Administration,” the filing stated. “Given the public interest in the investigative work conducted by the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation into Epstein, the Department of Justice moves the Court to unseal the underlying grand jury transcripts in United States v. Epstein, subject to appropriate redactions of victim-related and other personal identifying information.”

The filing says DOJ plans to work with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York “to make appropriate redactions of victim-related information and other personal identifying information prior to releasing the transcripts.”

“Transparency in this process will not be at the expense of our obligation under the law to protect victims,” the filing adds.

The filing requests the court “conclude that the Epstein and [Ghislaine] Maxwell cases qualify as a matter of public interest, release the associated grand jury transcripts, and lift any preexisting protective orders.”

The motion is signed only by Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche — no career prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York are on the filing.

The Justice Department’s filing comes as Trump has filed a libel lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal, Rupert Murdoch and others over the Thursday report about Trump’s alleged birthday message sent to Epstein in 2003. According to the lawsuit, Trump is seeking $10 billion in damages.

Trump has denied to the Wall Street Journal that he wrote the letter. ABC News has not been able to confirm the existence of the letter.

“I look forward to getting Rupert Murdoch to testify in my lawsuit against him and his ‘pile of garbage’ newspaper, the WSJ. That will be an interesting experience!!!” the president wrote on his social media platform Friday morning.

Earlier Friday, Trump suggested there is no “smoking gun” in the Epstein files as he seeks to downplay a case that’s long animated his MAGA supporters.

“If there was a ‘smoking gun’ on Epstein, why didn’t the Dems, who controlled the ‘files’ for four years, and had Garland and Comey in charge, use it? BECAUSE THEY HAD NOTHING!!!” Trump wrote on his conservative social media platform.

Trump said he asked Bondi to “produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval.”

The move from Trump to order the attorney general to seek the release of additional grand jury material comes after a week of intense pressure from his MAGA supporters to do more on Epstein following a brief memo from the Justice Department and FBI stating no further disclosure “would be appropriate or warranted.”

The memo stated a review from the DOJ and FBI found no evidence that Epstein kept a so-called “client list” of associates or that he blackmailed any prominent individuals, and also confirmed the disgraced financier died by suicide in prison while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

Bondi days ago had said the “memo speaks for itself.”

Between then and now, Trump has tried to tamp down intrigue into Epstein that’s been fueled by right-wing figures for years, including conspiracy theories of a “deep state” protecting the country’s elites.

He has called the Epstein files a “Democratic hoax” against him and those Republican supporters who are questioning his administration’s handling of them as “stupid” and “foolish.”

But his administration has shut down the idea of appointing a special prosecutor in the Epstein case.

“The idea was floated from someone in the media to the president. The president would not recommend a special prosecutor in the Epstein case. That’s how he feels,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at Thursday’s briefing.

Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, penned three separate letters to Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino to raise questions about discrepancies concerning the Epstein files and about the July 7 memo from the administration concerning Epstein.

Durbin wrote that his office received information that Bondi “pressured the FBI” to enlist 1,000 personnel, along with New York field office personnel, to review approximately 100,000 Epstein related records and to “flag” any records in which Trump was mentioned. He asked Bondi to respond to a number of questions concerning her personal review of the Epstein documents.

ABC News’ Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — Action memos on pro-Palestinian protesters sent by government officials to Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the authority he used to strip their visas had never before been used and would likely face scrutiny, a government official testified in court Friday.

Rubio used what the government says is his authority to find someone deportable “if the Secretary of State has reasonable ground to believe that the alien’s presence or activities in the United States would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States,” citing the Immigration and Nationality Act.

A section of a government memo that was read in court noted “it is likely that courts will closely scrutinize this determination” because the basis of it could be considered “protected speech.”

The contents of the memo were revealed during an ongoing bench trial in which the Trump administration is accused of instituting a constitutionally illegal ideological deportation policy against pro-Palestinian protesters, including Columbia University’s Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi and Tufts University’s Rumeysa Ozturk.

The lawsuit was filed by the American Association of University Professors and the Middle East Studies Association, which represents hundreds of professors and students across the country. An action memo sent by government officials to the secretary of state proposing Rubio strip Khalil and Yunseo Chung of their visas was cleared by 10 people and departments within 24 hours before it was sent to Rubio, John Armstrong, the senior bureau official in the bureau of consular affairs at the State Department, testified Friday.

The White House, Department of Homeland Security, State Department and Department of Defense had over 20 conversations about student protester visa revocations, most of which took place in March, Armstrong testified.

Armstrong also testified that he had conversations with people on the Homeland Security Council over the visa revocations, naming Homeland Security Adviser Stephen Miller and his deputy.

In a two-page memo from earlier this year outlining why Khalil should be deported, Rubio cited Khalil’s alleged role in “antisemitic protests and disruptive activities, which fosters a hostile environment for Jewish students in the United States.”

Asked about how officials identify what constitutes antisemitism, Armstrong testified Friday that he can’t remember receiving “any concrete guidance” as to what can be treated as antisemitic, and also testified that he doesn’t know of any of his deputies having received formalized training on what antisemitism is.

It’s my understanding that “antisemites will try to hide their views and say they are not against Jews, they are just against Israel” — but “it’s a dodge” to hide their antisemitism, Armstrong said.

Support for a foreign terrorist organization or terrorist activity is grounds for a visa revocation, Armstrong testified, saying, “Support for Hamas will get your visa revoked.”

Asked by plaintiffs attorneys, Armstrong also testified that criticizing Zionism, criticizing Israel’s actions in Gaza, saying that the actions of the Israeli government are “worse than Hitler,” saying “from the river to the sea,” calling Israel an apartheid state and calling for an arms embargo could all be considered cause for removal under the executive order combatting antisemitism.

Armstrong, who personally authorized the decision to strip Ozturk of her visa, testified that he based the decision on her actions protesting Tufts’ relationship with Israel and her “activities and association” with groups that are “creating a hostile environment for Jewish students.”

That alleged association was based on an op-ed she co-authored with someone who is part of a student group that supported the call for Tufts to divest and cut ties with Israel — a proposal that was made by Tufts Students for Justice in Palestine, a group which is now banned from campus.

DHS and Homeland Security Investigations found that Ozturk was not part of the activities that resulted in Tufts SJP’s ban from Tufts, according to documents read aloud in court by attorneys. Nonetheless, Armstrong maintained that Ozturk had ties to Tufts SJP.

Ozturk’s visa was revoked under a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act that allows the government to revoke a visa for any reason, Armstrong testified.

On Thursday, Andre Watson, the assistant director for the national security division at Homeland Security, testified that he has made 10 to 15 referrals of student protesters to the Department of State for possible visa revocation since the establishment of the Tiger Team task force looking into student protesters.

He said he referred every individual on whom the Homeland Security Investigations task force has filed a report, including Khalil, Ozturk and Mahdawi.

After the conclusion of testimony on Thursday, U.S. District Judge William Young informed the parties of definitions he will be relying on while making a decision after the conclusion of the bench trial.

“Criticisms of the state of Israel are not antisemitism. They are political speech, protected speech,” Young said.

Commentary on “conduct of the state of Israel, if it involves war crimes, involves genocide … is protected speech with respect to our constitution,” Young said.

While condemning antisemitism and saying the government should discourage antisemitism and hate against any group of people, he said, “Antisemitism … is not illegal. It is protected under the First Amendment.” 

On the pivotal question of whether visa holders and lawful permanent residents have the same First Amendment rights as U.S. citizens, the judge said, “Probably they do.”

Young also said criticizing the state of Israel “does not constitute pro-Hamas support.”

After new evidence is entered on Monday, closing arguments will begin in the trial.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Friday suggested there is no “smoking gun” in the Jeffrey Epstein files as he seeks to downplay a case that’s long animated his MAGA supporters.

“If there was a ‘smoking gun’ on Epstein, why didn’t the Dems, who controlled the ‘files’ for four years, and had Garland and Comey in charge, use it? BECAUSE THEY HAD NOTHING!!!” Trump wrote on his conservative social media platform.

The post comes after Trump announced Thursday night that he was ordering Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek the release of additional Epstein material.

Trump said he asked Bondi to “produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval.”

Bondi, in response, said action could come in court as soon as Friday. But the release of any grand jury materials could take longer, subject to a legal process to consider impact on victims and ultimately approval of a federal judge.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, Trump allegedly sent Epstein a letter in 2003 for his 50th birthday. The president is now threatening to sue the paper, and in an interview with the Journal, denied writing the letter. ABC News has not been able to confirm the existence of the letter.

“I look forward to getting Rupert Murdoch to testify in my lawsuit against him and his ‘pile of garbage’ newspaper, the WSJ. That will be an interesting experience!!!” the president wrote on his social media platform Friday.

The move from Trump to order the attorney general to seek the release of additional grand jury material comes after a week of intense pressure from his MAGA supporters to do more on Epstein following a brief memo from the Justice Department and FBI stating no further disclosure “would be appropriate or warranted.”

The memo stated a review from the DOJ and FBI found no evidence that Epstein kept a so-called “client list” of associates or that he blackmailed any prominent individuals, and also confirmed the disgraced financier died by suicide in prison while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

Bondi days ago had said the “memo speaks for itself.”

Between then and now, Trump has tried to tamp down intrigue into Epstein that’s been fueled by right-wing figures for years, including conspiracy theories of a “deep state” protecting the country’s elites.

He has called the Epstein files a “Democratic hoax” against him and those Republican supporters who are questioning his administration’s handling of them as “stupid” and “foolish.”

But his administration has shut down the idea of appointing a special prosecutor in the Epstein case.

“The idea was floated from someone in the media to the president. The president would not recommend a special prosecutor in the Epstein case. That’s how he feels,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at Thursday’s briefing.

Sen. Dick Durbin, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, penned three separate letters to Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino to raise questions about discrepancies concerning the Epstein files and about the July 7 memo from the administration concerning Epstein.

Durbin wrote that his office received information that Bondi “pressured the FBI” to enlist 1,000 personnel, along with New York field office personnel, to review approximately 100,000 Epstein related records and to “flag” any records in which Trump was mentioned. He asked Bondi to respond to a number of questions concerning her personal review of the Epstein documents.

ABC News’ Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.

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