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(WASHINGTON) — Senate Democrats on Wednesday said they are attempting to force the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files through a little-known, decades-old law.

All seven Democrats on the Homeland Security Committee invoked a law that requires federal agencies provide information about “any matter within the jurisdiction of the committee” if at least five members request it.

“This letter demands that the Justice Department produce documents that Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel have publicly already confirmed they have in their possession,” Sen. Gary Peters, the panel’s top Democrat, said at a press conference.

“We all know in fact that the attorney general said, quote, she said they’re sitting on her desk. It should be pretty easy to turn over documents that are sitting on the attorney general’s desk,” Peters added.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Peters was joined by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Richard Blumenthal at the press conference, during which they touted their move as a turning point in their quest for transparency over the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein matter.

“Today’s letter matters. It’s not a stunt, it’s not symbolic, it’s a formal exercise of congressional power under federal law, and we expect an answer from DOJ by August the 15, that’s what accountability looks like,” Schumer said. “This is what oversight looks like, and this is what keeping your promises to the American people look like.”

Blumenthal agreed that this measure was invoked as a powerful oversight tool.

“This letter has some force of law,” Blumenthal said. “This letter invokes a statute that has been little used because it has been unnecessary in the past to enforce transparency. It’s necessary now because this administration is stonewalling and stalling and concealing, and the American people are rightly asking where they have to hide. What’s at stake here is not just the president’s promises.”

The Democrats, who said their urging of a release of the Epstein files was also done as a way of seeking justice for Epstein’s victims, were asked at the news conference whether Democratic senators would be comfortable with redactions in their release.

Schumer said lawmakers “wouldn’t force any agreements that have been broken,” but added that he believes “almost everything can come out.”

Schumer also said that they’ve been “talking” to their Republican colleagues to get these files public but would eventually seek “recourse in the courts” if cooperation isn’t achieved.

“We have talked to some of our lawyers, and we will — this can be challenged in the courts, yes,” Schumer said.

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(WASHINGTON) — A top aide to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is berating independent auditors at the Pentagon for their ongoing review into the secretary’s use of the Signal messaging app, calling the assessment “a political witch hunt” and a “sham.”

The statement by Sean Parnell, Hegseth’s chief spokesman, suggests the defense secretary is preparing to challenge the upcoming findings by the Defense Department Office of the Inspector General, which is expected to be released in coming weeks.

Parnell’s use of the term “sham” to describe the IG’s work also raises questions about the fate of the independent watchdog office under President Donald Trump.

During his first week in office, Trump fired the Pentagon’s inspector general at the time, Robert Storch, along with more than a dozen other agency IGs. With Storch fired by Trump, the review is being led by acting Inspector General Steve Stebbins, who spent much of his career in the Army before becoming a career civil servant.

Mollie Halpern, a spokesperson for the IG office, declined to comment.

“Consistent with the long-standing policy of the DoD OIG, we do not comment on ongoing oversight project,” Halpern wrote in an emailed statement.

In his statement provided to reporters late Tuesday, Parnell said the IG evaluation “is clearly a political witch hunt” by “Biden administration holdovers.”

“The Secretary has provided a statement to the IG — which points out why this entire exercise is a sham, conducted in bad faith and with extreme bias,” he added.

Parnell initially released his statement to the The New York Times, which first reported Tuesday that Hegseth now requires general officers nominated for a fourth star to meet with Trump in advance of their nominations being finalized. A U.S. official confirmed to ABC News that the new process is in place.

Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson, said Trump “wants to ensure our military is the greatest and most lethal fighting force in history, which is why he meets with four-star-general nominees directly to ensure they are war fighters first — not bureaucrats.”

Under consideration by the IG is whether Hegseth violated Pentagon policies last March when the secretary used the commercial messaging app Signal to relay details about a military strike in Yemen.

According to texts released by The Atlantic, which the White House confirmed as authentic, Hegseth detailed in an unclassified chat group with other officials how a strike would unfold and when, including the use of F-18 fighter jets and Tomahawk missiles.

“THIS IS WHEN THE FIRST BOMBS WILL DEFINITELY DROP,” Hegseth wrote at one point referencing Yemen and noting the military time of 1415 (2:15 p.m.) ahead of the March 15 strike.

Hegseth also shared details about the imminent attack in a second group chat that included his wife, his brother and his personal lawyer, two sources familiar with the contents of the chat told ABC News. Sources say the details on the strike originated from a classified document and that among the questions being asked by the IG is whether Hegseth personally wrote the texts or if another staffer typed out the details.

Hegseth has insisted repeatedly that the information was never classified in the first place. CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence, also testified that the chat did not include classified information.

Stebbins, as acting IG, agreed to conduct an “evaluation” of the Pentagon’s Signal use at the request from Congress, which included Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the Republican chairman of the Armed Services Committee. Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the panel, also requested the review.

“The information as published recently appears to me to be of such a sensitive nature that, based on my knowledge, I would have wanted it classified,” Wicker said following the report by The Atlantic.

In a statement to reporters, Reed said it was wrong for Parnell to criticize the IG office.

“The civilian leadership of the Department of Defense is not above the law,” Reed said. “To suggest that the nonpartisan Inspector General is doing anything other than their impartial duties is simply wrong. Taxpayers and military personnel deserve to know the truth, and the Inspector General’s office has a responsibility to follow all evidence and report its independent findings.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Former Vice President Kamala Harris will not run for California governor in 2026, after months of considering the prospect of being the chief executive of her home state.

“In recent months, I have given serious thought to asking the people of California for the privilege to serve as their Governor. I love this state, its people, and its promise. It is my home. But after deep reflection, I’ve decided that I will not run for Governor in this election,” she said in a statement released Wednesday.

The decision could give Harris greater leeway for a presidential run in 2028, an option she has yet to rule out. Harris said she would share “more details in the months ahead” about her plans.

“I have extraordinary admiration and respect for those who dedicate their lives to public service—service to their communities and to our nation. At the same time, we must recognize that our politics, our government, and our institutions have too often failed the American people, culminating in this moment of crisis,” Harris said. “As we look ahead, we must be willing to pursue change through new methods and fresh thinking — committed to our same values and principles, but not bound by the same playbook.”

Harris announced this decision after months of reflecting how to best contribute to the Democratic Party after her presidential election loss, she said.

“I am a devout public servant, and from the earliest days of my career, I have believed that the best way I could make a difference in people’s lives and fight for a better future was to improve the system from within. And it has been a profound honor to do that work and serve the people of California and our nation — as a prosecutor, Attorney General, United States Senator, and Vice President,” said Harris.

Over the past several months Harris has waded back into politics, appearing virtually at a young voters summit earlier this month and an abortion rights advocacy group in June. Her joint fundraising committee with the Democratic National Committee, the Harris Victory Fund, has begun fundraising on behalf of former North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s new Senate bid as well.

Harris said despite not running for governor, she was finding other ways to “remain in that fight” for “freedom, opportunity, fairness, and the dignity of all.”

“I look forward to getting back out and listening to the American people, helping elect Democrats across the nation who will fight fearlessly, and sharing more details in the months ahead about my own plans,” Harris said.

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(WASHINGTON) — The pilots of a Black Hawk helicopter that collided with a passenger jet near Washington Reagan National Airport in January never heard an air traffic controller’s instruction to pass behind the jet, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a hearing Wednesday on its investigation into the crash that killed 67 people.

Roughly 15 seconds before the collision, the controller asked the Black Hawk if it had the jet in sight as it was on approach to land. Three seconds later, the controller instructed the helicopter to pass behind the airliner, but the helicopter crew had keyed its microphone at the same time as the controller and never heard the instruction, according to the Black Hawk’s flight recorder.

The new details were part of new evidence and details of the six-month probe reveaed Wednesday. The NTSB released thousands of pages of documents — including new video from the end of the runway showing the crash — about its investigation into the January collision between American Airlines Flight 5342 and the copter that was on a training flight.

The crash killed 64 passengers and crew on the airliner and all three crew on the helicopter.

Families of the victims of the crash sat in the audience of the hearing, some of whom wore pictures of their loved ones around their necks or on buttons. They broke down in tears as officials played the video with newly released surveillance footage of the incident.

During the three-day hearings, the NTSB is expected to question the Army, Federal Aviation Administration officials and others, and present its finding on the crash investigation. The NTSB will focus on a variety of topics in the hearings.

“We’re going to focus on [air traffic control], so air traffic control and training, guidance, procedures, what was going on in the air that night, and again, that is within FAA’s purview,” NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy told reporters on Tuesday.

The NTSB will also discuss collision avoidance systems on aircraft as well as any safety data that was available and unavailable and how safety management systems can be implemented and improved.

The probe findings indicated that the jet and the helicopter were on different frequencies and could not hear each other. The flight data recorder shows that the captain of the American Airlines flight pulled up one to two seconds before the collision, presumably in an effort to avoid the Black Hawk.

More information was also revealed about one of the Black Hawk pilots, Capt. Rebecca Lobach.

In February 2022, Lobach failed a night vision goggle annual examination, but passed other night vision goggle examinations since then, according to investigators.

She had flown 56.7 hours in the last year, an average of 4.7 hours per month. Lobach also had a temporary medical suspension from flight duty in 2024, according to investigators.

On the eve of the investigative hearings, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz introduced legislation called “The Rotor Act,” which would require all aircraft, including military, to transmit ADSB location when flying — a system that allows aircraft to transmit its location to other aircraft as well as to air traffic controllers.

All aircraft flying above 18,000 feet are required to have ADSB, but certain aircraft, including military aircraft, are exempt from transmitting ADSB location for security reasons.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the NTSB recommended to the FAA to require ADSB on all aircraft nearly two decades ago.

“ADSB, and I can’t stress this enough, is a game-changer, a game-changer when it comes to safety and will provide, as we said in 2008 immediate and substantial contribution to safety. This will save lives. This legislation will save lives,” Homendy said.

In its preliminary report, the NTSB said there is no indication the Black Hawk crew could tell it was on a collision course with Flight 5342, which was landing at the same time the helicopter was passing the end of the runway.

The helicopter crew might have had bad information from their altimeter, which measures height, as the pilots had differing altitudes in the seconds before the crash, the NTSB said in its preliminary report in February.

“We are looking at the possibility of there may be bad data,” Homendy said at the time.

The crew of the helicopter might not have heard a transmission from the tower that instructed them to go behind the airliner because the pilot may have keyed her radio at the same second and stepped on the transmission from ATC, the NTSB preliminary report findings showed.

One helicopter pilot thought they were at 400 feet and the other thought they were at 300 feet. The NTSB said it was not prepared to say exactly how high the helicopter was at impact.

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