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Kathy Ruemmler, former top lawyer at Goldman Sachs, calls Epstein ‘masterful liar’ in House probe

July 15, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Kathy Ruemmler, who once served as White House counsel for President Barack Obama and later worked as the top lawyer for investment bank Goldman Sachs, on Wednesday told House investigators that convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was a “masterful liar,” according to a copy of her prepared remarks reviewed by ABC News.

Ruemmler is appearing Wednesday in a closed-door session with the House Oversight Committee in its ongoing probe of the government’s handling of the investigations into Epstein.

Ruemmler never represented Epstein as an attorney, though documents in the Epstein files suggested she frequently provided legal and public relations advice to him. When Epstein was arrested on July 6, 2019, one of the first phone calls he made was to Ruemmler.

“If I knew then what I know now about who Epstein really was, I never would have accepted an initial meeting with him. It was a mistake to deal with him, and I regret it,” Ruemmler told the committee, according to her prepared remarks.

Ruemmler said she never saw any “evidence of ongoing criminal conduct or misconduct of any kind by Epstein” and would have reported him had she seen evidence of abuse. When he was indicted in 2019, Ruemmler said she was “shocked” by the allegations and cut ties with Epstein.

“I was shocked by the indictment, which alleged that Epstein had intentionally enticed and recruited minor girls to engage in sex acts with him in exchange for cash. Those horrific allegations — which covered conduct that had occurred almost 10 years before I met Epstein — contradicted what I had understood about the nature and scope of that prior conduct,” she said.

While she said she was aware of Epstein’s 2008 guilty plea to prostitution-related charges, Ruemmler said she trusted the plea deal was “a proportionate and final resolution of his criminal conduct. She added that the high-profile individuals who she thought were associated with Epstein suggested he was no longer engaging in criminal conduct, adding that he appeared to have “remorse, embarrassment, and regret for his conduct.”

“Epstein was a masterful liar, and he clearly lied to me. I can see now that he used me and other respectable people to legitimize his standing, and I know now that he often exaggerated his relationship with me to others,” she said, according to her prepared remarks. “I understand how frustrating and hurtful it must have been for anyone victimized by Epstein to see him going about his life without facing the type of accountability and consequences that he deserved. I am angry that he hurt so many people, and I regret ever having anything to do with him.”

Ruemmler faced renewed scrutiny over the relationship after the Department of Justice’s release of Epstein files earlier this year showed a trove of emails from 2014 to 2019 between her and Epstein.

In the emails to Epstein — who she occasionally referred to as “Uncle Jeffrey” and compared to an “older brother” — Ruemmler thanked him for lavish gifts, got advice about her career, and lambasted lawyers representing Epstein’s victims.

“Victim’s rights, my ass,” Ruemmler wrote in a February 2015 email about a case related to the Crime Victims’ Rights Act.

Amid the renewed scrutiny, Ruemmler announced plans earlier this year to step down as Goldman Sachs’ chief legal officer and general counsel, and a spokesperson for the bank at the time said she “regrets ever knowing” Epstein.

In March, the House Oversight Committee sent letters to a group of individuals associated with Epstein — including Ruemmler, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, billionaire Leon Black, and others — to request they participate in transcribed interviews as part of their Epstein probe.

“Ms. Ruemmler welcomes the opportunity to appear before the Committee,” Jennifer Connelly, a spokeswoman for Ruemmler, said in a statement following the request. “At the time she interacted with Jeffrey Epstein, she was a practicing criminal defense attorney and shared a client with him. She has done nothing wrong and had no knowledge of any ongoing criminal activity on his part.”

Despite her initial plan to depart from Goldman Sachs by June, Ruemmler continues to advise the bank on its search for a new general counsel. During an interview Monday on CNBC, Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said he is “really pleased” and “very grateful that she continues to help the firm.”

“Kathy stepped away because of the noise,” he said. “Kathy has agreed to act as an adviser and help us navigate through until a new general counsel is seated. We’re running a search. We’re deep into that search. We will seat a chief legal officer at some point, you know, in the near term. And once that person is seated, Kathy will move on and do other things.”

Trump overturns temporary pause on ICE traffic stops: Source

July 15, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump has overturned the temporary pause on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement traffic stops, according to a source familiar with the discussion, allowing the traffic stops to resume.

This comes after Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin gave the directive to halt the traffic stops, a law enforcement source told ABC News on Tuesday.

In an email sent to ICE deportation officers, a senior ICE official wrote that the vehicle stops were paused “immediately,” according to the email reviewed by ABC News.

“All personnel are instructed to prioritize other existing operational methods, outside of vehicle stops, to conduct immigration enforcement activities,” the official wrote.

Multiple sources said the pause was temporary and that ICE officers would receive new training on vehicle stops.

Additionally, one source said that ICE officers can conduct some vehicle stops during the pause but only in the presence of a local law enforcement officer trained to make vehicle stops that partners with ICE under the agency’s 287(g) program.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told ABC News that the agency won’t “disclose or discuss law enforcement tactics,” but added that it’s “always evaluating our procedures to keep our officers safe and criminals off our streets.”

In an interview on Fox News, border czar Tom Homan confirmed the temporary pause and said DHS will review the past few incidents.

“It is not a policy change, it is a temporary pause,” Homan said. “Look – last couple of shootings, ICE leadership along with DHS wants to look at these last couple incidents and look, is there something that could have been done better? Is there any training that could be improved? Or simply is ICE doing their job and bad things happen when people don’t comply with law enforcement officers? I think it going to be a short pause and I am confident that ICE is well trained in vehicle stops and you’re going to see us keep moving forward.”

On Monday, 26-year-old Joan Sebastian Guerrero was fatally shot by an ICE agent in Biddeford, Maine, after agents tried to stop the car he was driving, according to Sen. Angus King, I-Maine.

Guerrero, a Colombian national, was not the target of the operation and ICE agents had been given a final order for another man they were targeting to be removed from the U.S., King told ABC News.

An ICE spokesperson said that the agency was “conducting targeted surveillance on the last known address of an illegal alien with a final order of removal,” and when an “illegal alien departed the residence in a vehicle,” ICE agents “attempted to conduct a vehicle stop.”

“The vehicle attempted to flee the scene and fearing for public safety an officer discharged his weapon,” ICE said.

The Maine Attorney General’s Office said “the suspect attempted to flee in the vehicle in the direction of the officer and was fatally shot.”

Witness Daniel Boucher told ABC News that he watched agents pull the shooting victim from his car and put him on the ground.

“I heard the young man say, ‘I tried to stop.’ I clearly heard him say that,” said Boucher, adding that he overheard one of the ICE agents allegedly say the driver tried to run him over.

4-year-old shoots, kills 2-year-old with gun left unsecured in car: Sheriff

July 15, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(KISSIMMEE, Fla.) — A 4-year-old boy shot and killed a 2-year-old boy with a gun that was left unsecured in a car, according to authorities in Florida.

Officers responded Sunday afternoon to a home in Kissimmee where they found a 2-year-old boy with a gunshot wound, Osceola County Sheriff Chris Blackmon said at a news conference. The little boy was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, the sheriff said.

The two children were alone in the car when the 4-year-old found an unsecured gun and discharged it, striking the 2-year-old, the sheriff said.

The gun was “literally in the open,” Blackmon said.

“I would think if it’s in a holster, maybe make it harder for the child to manipulate, as well, but it’s literally laying out by itself. So it’s easy to grab, and you pull the trigger. And you can’t recall that, it’s not a video game,” Blackmon said.

The sheriff described the two boys as relatives but not siblings.

“The family had just arrived and was visiting here from Georgia” for vacation, Blackmon said.

The investigation is ongoing, the sheriff said, noting that charges are likely. Prosecutors said on Wednesday, “Because this is an active and ongoing investigation, we have no information to release at this time.”

ABC News’ Aidan Gellert contributed to this report.

Dr. Erica Schwartz appears before Senate committee for confirmation hearing as next CDC director

July 15, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — A confirmation hearing began on Wednesday for Dr. Erica Schwartz to be the next director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Schwartz, a formal deputy surgeon general, was nominated by President Donald Trump in April. Trump made the announcement in a post on Truth Social, describing Schwartz as “incredibly talented.”

Schwartz is the fourth person named or nominated as head of the CDC since last summer. If confirmed by the Senate, Schwartz will replace Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health, who took over as acting CDC director in February.

Schwartz earned a medical degree from Brown University and served in the U.S. Navy until 2005.

She served in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, as the Coast Guard Chief Medical Officer and as Deputy Surgeon General from 2019 to early 2021, during the first Trump administration.

“I was very pleased to see Dr. Schwartz nominated to be the next director of the CDC,” Dr. Richard Besser, former acting director of the CDC during the Obama administration, told ABC News. “What struck me is how refreshing it felt to see someone nominated for this job who actually has deep experience in public health and has the credentials necessary to lead a complex public health organization.”

Besser expressed concern about whether Schwartz, if confirmed, will have the independence from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to make public health recommendations, referencing a previous CDC director: Susan Monarez.

Monarez was confirmed as CDC director in July 2025, but she held the post for less than a month. Monarez was fired by Kennedy for reportedly not rubber-stamping the health secretary’s vaccine agenda or firing high-ranking CDC leaders whom he opposed.

The turmoil led to both Kennedy and Monarez appearing in front of Senate committees to address the ousting.

At a Senate hearing, Kennedy denied telling Monarez to accept vaccine recommendations without scientific evidence and claimed she was fired in part because she told him she was untrustworthy.

Besser said he expects that Schwartz will be asked by members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) about her perspectives on vaccinations, the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the rise of measles in the U.S.

“Those are some of the critical areas I think she’ll be asked about. There are so many other areas that are of concern to those who have relied on the CDC to prevent illness and promote health,” he said.

Sean Kaufman is also appearing before the Senate HELP Committee for his confirmation hearing on Wednesday. Kaufman was nominated to lead the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, which was recently absorbed under CDC as part of an HHS reorganization in 2025.

Kaufman has claimed without evidence that the COVID-19 vaccine caused “excessive death and injury … in the United States and globally.” Health officials have said COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective following clinical trials that involved tens of thousands of people and have since helped save millions of lives.

“What concerns me about Mr. Kaufman is that he has expressed very strong anti-vaccine views, and the ASPR is responsible for the strategic national stockpile,” Besser said. “So, I hope that the committee asks him questions to fully understand the approach that he would take in that role.”

Canadian wildfire smoke descends on US, spreading from Great Lakes to New England

July 15, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — More than 830 wildfires were burning on Wednesday in Canada, along with more than a dozen in northern Minnesota, near the border, growing with little or no containment and forcing mandatory evacuations.

Some of the largest wildfires are burning in west-central Ontario, and those fires are burning through thick forests, releasing an incredible amount of smoke.

The wind is now directing that very heavy smoke into America, creating dangerous air quality for millions across the upper Midwest and Northeast on Wednesday and through the end of the week

Rain on Friday over the upper Midwest and on Saturday for the Northeast should help disperse smoke.

Very heavy smoke is over Duluth, Minnesota, and Marquette, Michigan, on Wednesday morning, and extreme smoke is over northern Wisconsin.

Some heavy smoke will move over New York State and New England by mid-morning, potentially reaching New York City to Boston by 2 p.m. ET.

By sunset on Wednesday, very heavy smoke may reach from Buffalo to New York City and Philadelphia — streaming through Green Bay, Milwaukee, Grand Rapids, Detroit and Toronto.

Conditions in New York City are not expected to be as intense as they were in June 2023.

Hazy skies are expected and air quality will likely become unhealthy.

Conditions could, however, be that bad — Mars-like and smelling like a campfire — and some of the worst air quality in the world, on Thursday from Duluth to Green Bay and Marquette through much of northern Michigan.

Cleveland, Columbus, Baltimore and D.C. will likely see heavy smoke on Thursday.

The smoke will be serious for millions and may reach a dangerous level for everyone — not just those with respiratory issues.

Air quality alerts are in place from Minnesota to New York City, including the entire states of Wisconsin and Michigan.

Dr. Erica Schwartz to appear before Senate committee for confirmation hearing as next CDC director

July 15, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Dr. Erica Schwartz is set to appear before a Senate committee on Wednesday for her confirmation hearing as the next director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Schwartz, a formal deputy surgeon general, was nominated by President Donald Trump in April. Trump made the announcement in a post on Truth Social, describing Schwartz as “incredibly talented.”

Schwartz earned a medical degree from Brown University and served in the U.S. Navy until 2005.

She served in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, as the Coast Guard Chief Medical Officer and as Deputy Surgeon General from 2019 to early 2021, during the first Trump administration.

The turmoil led to both Kennedy and Monarez appearing in front of Senate committees to address the ousting.

At a Senate hearing, Kennedy denied telling Monarez to accept vaccine recommendations without scientific evidence and claimed she was fired in part because she told him she was untrustworthy.

Sean Kaufman will appear before the Senate HELP Committee for his confirmation hearing on Wednesday. Kaufman was nominated to lead the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, which was recently absorbed under CDC as part of an HHS reorganization in 2025.

US-UK ‘special relationship’ can survive spats with Trump, ex-British PM says

July 15, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — As Britain prepares for yet another prime ministerial change, a former holder of the office — Theresa May, who led the country from 2016 to 2019 — urged the country’s next leader to focus on shared U.S.-U.K. interests, rather than falling prey to potential personal or political clashes with President Donald Trump.

The U.K. Parliament is expected to anoint the Labour Party’s Andy Burnham as prime minister later this month. Burnham will become the seventh leader to take the reins of the country in 10 years, a reflection of the political and economic turbulence that has beset the country since the Brexit vote in 2016.

Burnham will replace current Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who last month said he would vacate his post following a collapse in support among Labour members of parliament, exacerbated by disastrous local election results in May. Starmer delivered Labour a historic majority in parliament in the 2024 general election, but saw his authority and approval rapidly deteriorate.

Like his predecessors, Burnham will need to juggle domestic discord while navigating a raft of foreign policy demands — among them the cultivation of the so-called “special relationship” between the U.K. and the U.S., which during President Donald Trump’s two terms in the White House has been subject to strategic, ideological and economic headwinds.

Trump has already described Burnham — who until recently was serving as the mayor of Greater Manchester — as “extremely liberal.” During Starmer’s time in office, the president has been scathing toward the prime minister’s policies in areas including energy, immigration, crime and foreign policy.
May, whose time in office overlapped with Trump’s first term, told ABC News last week that institutional transatlantic relationships and shared interests can help Starmer’s successors ease possible interpersonal tensions.

“Keir Starmer, actually, on the foreign policy field, by and large, played a good hand,” May told ABC News on the sidelines of the Chatham House think tank’s conference in London. The outgoing prime minister has been broadly praised for his deft handling of the transatlantic relationship, which included hosting a state visit for Trump to the U.K. in 2025.

Of the special relationship, May said, “We talk about it perhaps slightly more than the U.S. does. But that relationship is built on a whole set of different levels of relationships. So, it’s not just about the prime minister and the president. It’s also about our security relationships, our defense relationships … It’s not just about the two people at the top.”

The same is true of the U.K.’s own political issues, May said, as the nation prepares for the coronation of its next prime minister. “It’s not about individuals. Politics today generally across the globe has become more about individuals and personalities and I think that’s problematic,” she said.

“What matters to people is not the personality at the top. What matters to the people is what they’re doing, what their policies are,” May said.

The recent joint U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has again prompted Trump to strike out at America’s European allies, who refused to join the campaign in support of Washington though expressed willingness to aid security and minesweeping missions in the Strait of Hormuz once the conflict is over.

The U.K. was among the American allies who refusal to assist the U.S. against Iran “greatly disappointed me,” Trump said in March. Starmer’s response in particular, the president said, was “very disappointing.”

Asked whether the Iran war would prove to be a long-lasting blot on U.K.-U.S. relations, May said she was hesitant to comment as the conflict “is not finished.”

Still, she — like many other current and former European leaders — noted that European nations have previously shown their “commitment to the United States,” not least in rallying to the U.S. side after the 9/11 attacks; the only time in NATO history that an ally invoked the Article 5 collective defense clause.

When asked about Trump’s repeated suggestions that the U.S. should be less involved in European security, May replied, “There have been other times when there’s been more of that sense of isolationism,” specifically noting the later American entry into the Second World War in support of the U.K. and its allies.

“But I think, again, the interests that we have together are what combines us,” May said.

Blanche to face grilling on DOJ controversies as he seeks confirmation as AG

July 15, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is facing the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday as he seeks confirmation to secure his role on a permanent basis.

Blanche is likely to be grilled over a series of controversies from his time with the Justice Department, as he seeks confirmation to secure his role on a permanent basis.

Formerly President Donald Trump’s defense attorney, Blanche faced a relatively smooth glide path to confirmation with unanimous Republican support last year when he was nominated to serve as the department’s number two official.

Since Trump’s ouster of Pam Bondi as attorney general in April, Blanche has served in the position in an acting role and Trump formally nominated him in June.

Blanche’s road to confirmation is further complicated by the sudden death of Sen. Lindsey Graham, a veteran of the Judiciary Committee who was expected to be a strong advocate for Blanche with his GOP colleagues. Blanche will likely need the support of every Republican on the committee in order for his nomination to advance to the Senate floor, as all Democrats are expected to oppose him.

In recent months, multiple Republicans have voiced concerns with actions taken by the Justice Department under Blanche’s leadership — most notably the now-defunct “Anti-Weaponization Fund” that was propped up under the guise of a settlement after Trump’s personal attorneys sued the Internal Revenue Service for $10 billion over the leak of his tax returns. One day after that settlement was announced, Blanche signed an additional document that purported to give Trump and his family immunity from IRS investigations of all of their past tax returns.

The announced settlement drew bipartisan condemnation that led to an extraordinary behind-closed-doors standoff between Blanche and Senate Republicans who demanded the administration drop the proposed fund that could have been used to award Trump allies who claimed to have been wrongful targets of the Biden administration — including those convicted of attacking police during the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.

While Blanche later said the administration was dropping the fund, the department has so far refused to commit to doing so in writing, and the DOJ has also not rescinded Blanche’s separate order regarding immunity from IRS probes for Trump and his family.

On Monday, a federal judge in Florida issued an extraordinary order that lambasted Trump and the Justice Department for misusing her court to legitimize a “settlement” that she says would never have survived judicial review.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams, who had previously been assigned to oversee Trump’s IRS lawsuit, referred Trump’s attorneys for potential sanctions and separately sent her ruling to the State Bar of New York for consideration in potential disciplinary proceedings for Blanche — who Williams said had potentially given “misleading” testimony to Congress about how the settlement was executed.

The Justice Department has yet to respond publicly to Williams’ order.

Cornyn: Ruling raises more questions

Republican Sen. John Cornyn, a key vote on the Judiciary Committee who has said he remains undecided on Blanche’s nomination, told reporters Monday that Williams’ ruling raised more questions for Blanche to answer in his hearing.

Sen. Thom Tillis, another closely watched Republican on the committee, said Tuesday that the fund needs to be “certainly and completely ended” before he can vote for Blanche to be sworn in as attorney general.

Both Cornyn and Tillis are serving out the end of their terms — Cornyn was defeated in Texas’ GOP primary by Trump-backed state Attorney General Ken Paxton and Tillis decided against running again after Trump threatened to put up a candidate to challenge him in North Carolina’s Republican primary.

Blanche’s handling of the “anti-weaponization fund” is just one among a series of controversies from his time atop the Justice Department that Democrats will seek to seize on to cast Blanche as an eager henchman to execute Trump’s campaign of vengeance against his political enemies.

“While deploying the Justice Department as a shield for the President and his cronies, Blanche has also used our top law-enforcement agency as a sword against Trump’s political opponents,” ranking Judiciary Committee Democrat Dick Durbin said in a statement following Blanche’s nomination.

Democrats are expected to highlight DOJ’s now-dismissed cases that targeted former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James — in addition to a new indictment targeting Comey in North Carolina over an image of seashells reading ‘8647’ that prosecutors argue amounts to a death threat targeting Trump. Comey has pleaded not guilty to those charges and his attorneys are set to argue for the case to be dismissed on the grounds he’s being vindictively targeted by the administration.

Committee Democrats will also likely press Blanche over a series of other probes that judges across the country have labeled as politically driven, dismissing subpoenas that targeted Fulton County election workers, Minnesota state officials over their refusal to cooperate on immigration enforcement, and a criminal probe of former Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell that a judge said was based on zero evidence.

Questions about ICE tactics and more

Blanche will also likely face questions over the two fatal shootings by ICE agents over the past week and the administration’s ongoing investigations into the separate shootings of protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti during an immigration crackdown in Minneapolis earlier this year.

In recent months the administration has also mounted a more aggressive push targeting reporters to root out their sources, with the New York Times last week disclosing that several of its journalists were subpoenaed to testify in federal court in Manhattan at the same time Blanche will be appearing before the Senate panel.

Blanche also played a central role in the administration’s botched handling of the release of files stemming from its investigation into the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and sat for a two-day interview with Epstein’s convicted co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell in federal prison while he was assistant AG. Democrats have accused Blanche of later arranging for Maxwell’s transfer to a less restrictive prison facility in Texas, which he has repeatedly denied.

In the lead up to his hearing, Blanche has been seen making frequent jaunts to Capitol Hill meeting with senators to rally support for his confirmation. In recent weeks, he has held sessions preparing answers on some of the more controversial subjects he’s likely to be pressed on — including his loyalties to Trump, his position on monetary awards for Jan. 6 defendants and Trump’s demands that the Justice Department aggressively investigate his 2020 election loss and potentially intervene in the upcoming midterms.

It’s not immediately clear when the full Senate would move for a vote on Blanche’s nomination if passed by the committee, though administration officials have said their goal would be for him to be confirmed before the August recess.

Clayton confirmation as DNI could pave way for extension of lapsed key surveillance tool

July 15, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Jay Clayton, President Donald Trump’s pick to serve as director of national intelligence, is scheduled to appear before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence for his nomination hearing on Wednesday.

The hearing could clear a path for lawmakers to replace the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and Trump loyalist Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence and could pave the way for an extension of a lapsed surveillance authority.

Clayton’s hearing comes weeks after the president abruptly canceled his previously scheduled confirmation hearing. Lawmakers had urgently scheduled a nomination hearing for Clayton in an effort to block Pulte from temporarily taking on the role, but Trump derailed the effort.

Pulte has been serving as the acting director since June 19.

Trump derails confirmation process

Trump, last month in an early morning social media post, said the confirmation process for Clayton would not continue until his pick to replace Clayton as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jamie McDonald, was confirmed.

“Regarding the approval of our Great Patriot, Jay Clayton, we are cancelling the Senate Hearing RE: DNI today, and will not be going forward until Jamie McDonald is approved to be U.S. Attorney,” Trump wrote. “In the meantime, Bill Pulte will remain as the Acting Director of National Intelligence.”

Pulte, who has no prior national security experience, is best known in the Trump administration for launching probes into several of the president’s perceived political enemies over allegations of mortgage fraud and possible misuse of authority.

Targets of the investigations include Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff and former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell.

All have denied wrongdoing.

Pulte drew bipartisan concern on Capitol Hill after he sought to accelerate his predecessor’s departure from the role. The former DNI, Tulsi Gabbard, announced her intention to resign from the role in May, citing a desire to step away from public service to support her husband following his cancer diagnosis. Gabbard ultimately left the role on June 18, days earlier than planned.

In his short tenure as the acting director of national intelligence, Pulte made good on threats to cut hundreds of jobs at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence by mass firing employees in June.

It’s unclear how many jobs had been affected, but sources told ABC News last month that the National Counterterrorism Center was expected to be hit hard. Trump, for his part, had made clear he had instructed Pulte to slash jobs at the agency.

Pulte’s appointment also stalled efforts to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the federal government to collect communications of foreigners abroad without a warrant. The program’s legal authorization lapsed in June.

Scrutiny from skeptical lawmakers

It’s not clear how long the Intelligence Committee will take to consider Clayton’s nomination, but he could potentially be confirmed by the Senate by the end of next week if there is unanimous agreement to speed up his consideration.

Clayton may face questions from senators on the Trump administration’s decision to issue subpoenas on Friday to several journalists who work for The New York Times after the news outlet reported last week on security concerns involving Trump’s new Qatari-donated Air Force One.

Clayton, as U.S. attorney in Manhattan, issued the subpoenas. In a statement on Saturday, a Justice Department spokeswoman said that “reporters are not the targets, those leaking classified information are.”

Clayton, prior to his role as the U.S. attorney, was also the former chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Apart from the national security cases he oversaw while serving as U.S. attorney, Clayton also lacks experience in intelligence-gathering and national security matters.

Clayton spent the bulk of his career as a corporate attorney, and prior to his appointment as U.S. attorney last year, lacked meaningful experience in criminal matters.

He has spent the last year overseeing one of the country’s highest profile federal prosecutor’s offices — focusing on drugs, gangs, immigration and fraud cases. Clayton also oversaw the unsealing of grand jury materials related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, prompting complaints from victims about the disclosure of their sensitive personal information.

Clayton was never confirmed by the Senate as U.S. attorney, though his nomination was approved by the federal judges in the district and was seen then by many as a steady hand to lead the high-profile office.

ABC News’ Aaron Katersky and Peter Charalambous contributed to this report.

1 dead, 3 missing after boat sinks near Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay

July 15, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(SAN FRANCISCO) — One person is dead and three others are missing after a boat with more than a dozen passengers aboard capsized and sank in San Francisco Bay near Alcatraz Island on Tuesday, according to local authorities.

Authorities said they believe 20 people were aboard the Volare, a 50-foot cabin cruiser based out of Stockton, California, when it was hit by a wave, causing it to capsize.

The person who died was taken to the shore severely injured and, despite CPR being administered, was pronounced dead, officials said. He has not been identified but authorities said he was an adult male.

Three people were taken to the hospital and reported to be in stable condition. They were expected to be released later Tuesday.

San Francisco Fire Chief Dean Crispen told reporters that authorities believe that there was some kind of memorial service that the 20 passengers, all adults and mostly comprised of family members, were engaging in on the vessel when it capsized.

The U.S. Coast Guard will continue the search-and-rescue efforts for the three missing passengers overnight.

The San Francisco Fire Department said it initially received a call for a fire on the boat at 3:30 p.m. local time. However, authorities said they haven’t yet seen evidence that there was a fire on board.

The U.S. Coast Guard, along with several local authorities, helped respond to the incident.

Rescue swimmers and scuba divers were also deployed.

Earlier, authorities said they believed there were 19 people aboard and that they were looking for two missing passengers.

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