NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch speaks during a press conference on Public Safety at City Hall on June 03, 2025 in New York City. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani will have one familiar face in his administration when he takes office in January.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced Wednesday that she accepted Mamdani’s offer to remain in her position when Mamdani succeeds Mayor Eric Adams.
Late into his mayoral campaign, Mamdani, 34, said he would not replace the commissioner if elected. The mayor-elect cited the city’s drop in shootings, murders and transit crime since Tisch, 44, began her tenure as the commissioner in November 2024.
“I’ve spoken to Mayor-elect Mamdani several times, and I’m ready to serve with honor as his Police Commissioner. That’s because he and I share many of the same public safety goals for New York City: lowering crime, making communities safer, rooting out corruption, and giving our officers the tools, support, and resources they need to carry out their noble work,” Tisch said in a statement.
“I have admired her work cracking down on corruption in the upper echelons of the police department, driving down crime in New York City, and standing up for New Yorkers in the face of authoritarianism,” Mamdani said in a statement.
Mamdani has been previously outspoken about his concerns about the NYPD and has apologized for some of his past comments that were critical of the force.
Tisch acknowledged that she and Mamdani do have some differences in a department-wide email on Wednesday morning.
“Now, do the Mayor-elect and I agree on everything? No, we don’t. But in speaking with him, it’s clear that we share broad and crucial priorities: the importance of public safety, the need to continue driving down crime, and the need to maintain stability and order across the department. We also agree that you deserve the city’s respect and support,” she said in the email that was obtained by ABC News.
“I appreciate that the Mayor-elect wants a team with different points of view — a team where ideas and policies are debated on their merits. In those discussions, you can trust that I will be a fierce advocate for you and for this department. You know how I operate: I don’t mince words. When I say something, I mean it. And that is not going to change,” Tisch added.
Tisch, who is the daughter of James Tisch, the CEO of the Loews Corporation, has long been involved in city government under different administrations.
In 2008, she was an intelligence research specialist in the NYPD’s Counterterrorism Bureau, later counsel to the police commissioner, and the Counterterrorism Bureau’s director of policy and planning.
When Bill Bratton returned to lead the NYPD under Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2014, Tisch was appointed as the deputy commissioner of Information Technology and led efforts to improve the department’s tech, including its CompStat tracking.
When Mayor Eric Adams took office in 2022, he appointed her as sanitation commissioner.
When Police Commissioner Edward Caban resigned in September 2024, following a federal probe and an FBI search of his home, Adams, who was indicted on federal charges that same month, appointed Thomas Donlon as an interim commissioner before announcing Tisch two months later.
She became the second female NYPD commissioner, following Keechant Sewell, who served from January 2022 to June 2024.
Adams, who decided not to run for re-election in October, praised Tisch’s work and her decision to stay on.
“In choosing her to stay on as police commissioner, Mayor-elect Mamdani is recognizing our public-safety efforts were right and that they will continue into the future. We all want a safer city, and keeping Commissioner Tisch in place and supporting our police officers every day with the policies we have implemented, is exactly how we do that,” he said in a statement Wednesday.
(WASHINGTON) — The Senate on Wednesday formally received the House bill for the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files and quickly sent it along to President Donald Trump’s desk.
Late Tuesday afternoon, the Senate agreed to unanimously approve the bill the House passed earlier in the day. When it arrived from the House, it was deemed immediately passed by the Senate.
The unanimous action by the Senate meant there were no amendments or changes to the bill as House Speaker Mike Johnson and other members of his Republican leadership team had urged.
The measure compels Attorney General Pam Bondi to make available all “unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials” in the Department of Justice’s possession related to Epstein within 30 days of its enactment.
If the legislation is signed into law, it could compel the release of federal records on Epstein and his convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as other individuals, including government officials, named or referenced in connection with Epstein’s “criminal activities, civil settlements, immunity, plea agreements or investigatory proceedings,” according to the legislation text. Victims’ names and other identifying information would be excluded from disclosure, as would any items that may depict or contain child sex abuse material, according to the text of the House-passed bill.
ABC News has not received a response from the Justice Department to questions about whether and how it plans to comply with the bill once it has been signed by Trump.
On Friday, Bondi announced the Justice Department was initiating a renewed investigation into the files and potential ties between high-profile Democrats and Epstein just hours after Trump ordered her to on his Truth Social account.
It’s unclear whether the DOJ will seek to cite that announcement as exempting much of the files from public disclosure due to their relevance to the new investigation, despite DOJ and FBI stating unequivocally in a July statement that it uncovered no evidence in a review of the files that would support a predicated investigation against any uncharged individuals.
It’s unlikely the Justice Department would release the entire Epstein file, according to sources. Any materials related to ongoing investigations or White House claims of executive privilege will likely remain out of public view.
Trump said on Monday that he will sign the bill should it reach his desk.
“I’m all for it,” Trump said.
But in a post on his social media platform Tuesday afternoon, the president said he doesn’t “care when the Senate passes the House Bill, whether tonight, or at some other time in the near future,” and that he wants Republicans to stay focused on his agenda.
“I just don’t want Republicans to take their eyes off all of the Victories that we’ve had, including THE GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL, Closed Borders, No Men in Women’s Sports or Transgender for Everyone, ending DEI, stopping Biden’s Record Setting Inflation, Biggest Tax and Regulation Cuts in History, stopping EIGHT Wars, rebuilding our Military, being RESPECTED by every Country in the World, having Trillions of Dollars INVESTED in the U.S.A., having created the ‘HOTTEST’ Country anywhere in the World, and even delivering a HUGE DEFEAT to the Democrats on the Shutdown,” Trump said in his post.
A senior White House official later told ABC News that the bill will “be signed whenever it gets to the White House.”
Trump did not need to wait for Congress to act — he could order the release immediately.
At a vigil on Capitol Hill Tuesday afternoon, a group of House Democrats and Epstein survivors broke out in loud cheers upon learning that the Senate unanimously approved the bill.
After New Mexico Democratic Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez made the announcement from the podium, the group broke out in loud cheers, claps and smiles — some of them tearing up.
Democrats were seen hugging the survivors.
ABC News’ John Parkinson, Lauren Peller, Rebecca Gelpi, Michelle Stoddart and Alex Mallin contributed to this report.
: Former Vice President Dick Cheney speaks at the Sunshine Summit opening dinner at Disney’s Contemporary Resort on November 12, 2015 in Orlando, Florida. (Photo by Tom Benitez – Pool/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Former Vice President Dick Cheney’s funeral will be held in Washington on Thursday, with several high-profile political figures set to be at the service for the man considered one of the most influential vice presidents in U.S. history.
Former President Joe Biden plans to attend, a spokesperson confirmed to ABC News.
The funeral will be held at Washington National Cathedral at 11 a.m. ET.
Former President George W. Bush, who Cheney served for two terms, will offer a tribute at the service. According to the cathedral’s program, Cheney’s daughter, former congresswoman Liz Cheney, and his grandchildren will also give remarks.
Cheney died on Nov. 3 at the age of 84 due to complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease.
“Dick Cheney was a great and good man who taught his children and grandchildren to love our country, and to live lives of courage, honor, love, kindness, and fly fishing,” the family said in a statement at the time. “We are grateful beyond measure for all Dick Cheney did for our country. And we are blessed beyond measure to have loved and been loved by this noble giant of a man.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — The Senate is expected to receive the House-passed version of the Jeffrey Epstein files and pass it along to President Donald Trump Wednesday morning.
Late Tuesday afternoon, the Senate agreed to unanimously approve the bill the House passed earlier in the day. When it arrives from the House, it will be deemed immediately passed by the Senate.
The unanimous action by the Senate means there will be no amendments or changes to the bill as House Speaker Mike Johnson and other members of his Republican leadership team had urged.
The measure compels Attorney General Pam Bondi to make available all “unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials” in the Department of Justice’s possession related to Epstein within 30 days of its enactment.
If the legislation is signed into law, it could compel the release of federal records on Epstein and his convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as other individuals, including government officials, named or referenced in connection with Epstein’s “criminal activities, civil settlements, immunity, plea agreements or investigatory proceedings,” according to the legislation text. Victims’ names and other identifying information would be excluded from disclosure, as would any items that may depict or contain child sex abuse material, according to the text of the House-passed bill.
ABC News has not received a response from the Justice Department to questions about whether and how it plans to comply with the bill once it has been signed by Trump.
On Friday, Bondi announced the Justice Department was initiating a renewed investigation into the files and potential ties between high-profile Democrats and Epstein just hours after Trump ordered her to on his Truth Social account.
It’s unclear whether the DOJ will seek to cite that announcement as exempting much of the files from public disclosure due to their relevance to the new investigation, despite DOJ and FBI stating unequivocally in a July statement that it uncovered no evidence in a review of the files that would support a predicated investigation against any uncharged individuals.
It’s unlikely the Justice Department would release the entire Epstein file, according to sources. Any materials related to ongoing investigations or White House claims of executive privilege will likely remain out of public view.
Trump said on Monday that he will sign the bill should it reach his desk.
“I’m all for it,” Trump said.
But in a post on his social media platform Tuesday afternoon, the president said he doesn’t “care when the Senate passes the House Bill, whether tonight, or at some other time in the near future,” and that he wants Republicans to stay focused on his agenda.
“I just don’t want Republicans to take their eyes off all of the Victories that we’ve had, including THE GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL, Closed Borders, No Men in Women’s Sports or Transgender for Everyone, ending DEI, stopping Biden’s Record Setting Inflation, Biggest Tax and Regulation Cuts in History, stopping EIGHT Wars, rebuilding our Military, being RESPECTED by every Country in the World, having Trillions of Dollars INVESTED in the U.S.A., having created the ‘HOTTEST’ Country anywhere in the World, and even delivering a HUGE DEFEAT to the Democrats on the Shutdown,” Trump said in his post.
A senior White House official later told ABC News that the bill will “be signed whenever it gets to the White House.”
Trump did not need to wait for Congress to act — he could order the release immediately.
At a vigil on Capitol Hill Tuesday afternoon, a group of House Democrats and Epstein survivors broke out in loud cheers upon learning that the Senate unanimously approved the bill.
After New Mexico Democratic Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez made the announcement from the podium, the group broke out in loud cheers, claps and smiles — some of them tearing up.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican from South Dakota, speaks to members of the media at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, Nov. 10, 2025. (Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters that the Senate could act as soon as Tuesday to approve the release of the Justice Department’s files on late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Thune said there’s currently an effort ongoing to determine whether any senator opposes moving forward with the bill. If no one objects, Thune said it was a “possibility” that the bill could be passed Tuesday — the same day it overwhelmingly passed in the House.
He also dismissed the idea that the Senate would amend the bill despite House Speaker Mike Johnson urging the Senate to do so.
“I think when a bill comes out of the House 427 to 1 and the president said he was going to sign it, I’m not sure that amending it is in the cards,” Thune said.
Johnson is not enthusiastic about the prospect of the Senate fast-tracking passage of the Epstein files bill in the upper chamber without making changes.
“I just texted him, we’re going to get together,” Johnson said about Thune. “We’ll talk about that.”
“There’s an easy way to amend the legislation to make sure that we don’t do permanent damage to the justice system, and I’m going to insist upon that,” Johnson added. “We’ll talk to our Senate colleagues.”
In remarks on the Senate floor, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he would personally call for the Senate to unanimously act on the Epstein bill later Tuesday.
“As soon as the House sends us the Epstein bill the Senate should move without delay to pass it unamended and send it on to the president’s desk to be signed into law. We should pass this bill as soon as possible, as written, without a hint of delay,” Schumer said.
The measure that passed in the House compels Attorney General Pam Bondi to make available all “unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials” in the Department of Justice’s possession related to Epstein.
How would it work on the floor if this happened?
If the Senate does move on the Epstein bill on Tuesday evening, it’s expected to be by unanimous consent.
Right now, Thune said the Senate is checking in with members to see if there is anyone who objects to passing the bill Tuesday night.
If there is no objection, it could be a very quick process on the floor. Thune or another senator would likely rise to ask for the bill to be passed unanimously. The presiding officer would ask if there were any objections and, if there were none, the bill would be approved.
There are, of course, many procedural hiccups that could emerge. But the possibility exists that this could be moved across the floor quickly.
Schumer could seek unanimous agreement for final passage, or he could seek unanimous agreement to hold a vote on the bill Tuesday night. Either way, his actions, if all 100 senators agree, could send the bill to Trump’s desk as soon as Tuesday night.
Sen. Jeff Merkley is the sponsor of the Senate’s version of the bill that would compel release of the Epstein documents.
In a separate speech on the floor, Merkley also called for the bill to be swiftly passed.
If the bill passes in the Senate, it will go to Trump’s desk for him to sign it into law. The president said on Monday that he will sign the bill should it reach his desk.
“I’m all for it,” Trump said.
If the legislation — as it’s written in the House-passed bill — is signed into law, it could compel the release of federal records on Epstein and his convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as other individuals, including government officials, named or referenced in connection with Epstein’s “criminal activities, civil settlements, immunity, plea agreements or investigatory proceedings,” according to the legislation text. Victims’ names and other identifying information would be excluded from disclosure, as would any items that may depict or contain child sex abuse material, according to the text of the House-passed bill.
Trump does not need to wait for Congress to act — he could order the release immediately.
Even if the measure passes through the Senate and is ultimately signed into law by Trump, it’s unlikely the Justice Department would release the entire Epstein file, according to sources. Any materials related to ongoing investigations or White House claims of executive privilege will likely remain out of public view.
When would this happen?
The timing is very unclear.
The Senate floor is currently open and the Senate is expected to vote at 5:30 p.m. ET on a separate matter unrelated to the Epstein files.
Thune could also decide to hold off until later in the week if that is the preference of his members.
ABC News’ John Parkinson and Rebecca Gelpi contributed to this report.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon speaks with ABC News after testifying before a House Committee on Education and Workforce hearing, June 4, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (ABC News)
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Education on Tuesday announced six interagency agreements that would transfer some of its offices to other government agencies. The moves mark a “major step forward” in downsizing the department and returning education to the states, a senior department official said.
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon touted the “bold action” her agency is taking to accomplish the mission of putting herself out of a job.
“Cutting through layers of red tape in Washington is one essential piece of our final mission,” McMahon wrote in a statement. “As we partner with these agencies to improve federal programs, we will continue to gather best practices in each state through our 50-state tour, empower local leaders in K-12 education, restore excellence to higher education, and work with Congress to codify these reforms. Together, we will refocus education on students, families, and schools — ensuring federal taxpayer spending is supporting a world-class education system.”
Under the agreements, the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education’s programs as well as sections of the Office of Postsecondary Education, including higher education grant programs and institution-based grant programs, will be co-managed by the Department of Labor, according to the senior department official.
The Office of Indian Education will be administered by the Interior Department and child care access — which would improve on-campus child care support for parents enrolled in college — and foreign medical accreditation will go to the Health and Human Services, and international and foreign language services is moving to the State Department, the senior department official said on a call with reporters.
The department official said the agency has broad authority to move the services and explained that policies and oversight made by these offices will be vested and remain at the Department of Education. However, grant processing will be housed with the partner agencies, the department official stressed on the call.
Interagency agreements are a frequently used tool and the Education Department has engaged with other partner agencies more than 200 times to procure various services of other partner agencies over the years, the senior department official said.
The senior department official did not have a timeline for when the agreements would officially start.
Meanwhile, the statutory offices that resolve civil rights complaints, serve students with disabilities, and handle the nation’s $1.6 trillio student loan portfolio were not included in Tuesday’s announcement but the senior department official did not rule out future moves.
“OCR [Office of Civil Rights] is not one of the IAAs that we are announcing today,” the department official noted, adding “OCR, just as with [Offices of Special Education Programs and the Rehabilitative Services Administration] and [Federal Student Aid], we are exploring options and the best plans for the future.”
Critics quickly condemned the announcement.
National Parents Union (NPU) President Keri Rodrigues called the partnerships a “disaster,” calling on lawmakers to defend students impacted by the partnerships.
“By destabilizing the Department of Education, the Administration is undermining America’s long-term ability to compete, innovate, and lead on the world stage,” Rodrigues wrote in a statement to ABC News. “Congress must reject this misguided action and defend the rights, futures, and global potential of the students they serve.”
On Capitol Hill, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said the Trump administration is “hellbent” on punishing underserved students.
But House Education and Workforce Committee Chairman Tim Walberg, R-Mich., said the status quo is broken and praised the Trump administration on making good on its promise to fix the Department of Education.
“It’s time to get our nation’s students back on track,” Walberg wrote in a statement, adding, “It’s time to return education to those who are most committed to students’ success: their communities.”
In recent weeks, the department used social media posts and op-eds to explain its intentions. McMahon suggested it would be a “treat” to close the agency she leads in a Halloween post on X. Earlier, on the agency’s 46th anniversary, McMahon said the department needed an “eviction notice” because of ballooning spending, failing reading and math scores, and bloated bureaucracy in Washington.
A few of the non-statutory functions of the department have already been moved. The agency started a workforce development partnership with the Department of Labor in McMahon’s efforts to shift programs and responsibilities to partner agencies. One of the programs helping educate the next generation of farmers has been transferred to the Department of Agriculture under Secretary Brooke Rollins.
The long-expected move inched President Donald Trump closer to his goal of shuttering the department and returning education decision-making to the states. However, dismantling the agency completely would take an act of Congress and 60 Senate votes to overcome a Democratic filibuster.
Trump chose McMahon, the former WWE president and CEO, to put herself out of a job.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson speaks during a press conference on Capitol Hill on November 18, 2025 in Washington, DC. Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — After months of anticipation, the House of Representatives on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a bill ordering the release of the Justice Department’s files on late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
It passed 427-1 — with GOP Rep. Clay Higgins as the only vote against the measure.
The bill will now head to the Senate, where its fate is uncertain.
About a dozen Epstein victims, including Virginia Giuffre’s brother, were seated in the front row of the gallery as the vote got underway. Some left the chamber after the tally grew above a supermajority and passage was not in peril.
Earlier on Tuesday, a group of women victimized by Epstein spoke outside the Capitol and urged lawmakers to vote yes on the bill. Several took aim at President Donald Trump directly and criticized his handling of the matter.
House Speaker Mike Johnson had tried to avoid holding a vote in the lower chamber on the Epstein matter. In late July, Johnson sent the House home a day early for August recess because the House was paralyzed in a stalemate over the Epstein issue.
The speaker also sent the House home for more than 50 days during the longest government shutdown in U.S. history — delaying the swearing in of Democrat Adelita Grijalva. After the shutdown ended last week, the Arizona Democrat became the 218th signature on the Epstein discharge petition, compelling the speaker to bring a bill co-sponsored by Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie and California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna to the floor for a vote this week.
Johnson continued to criticize the bill on Tuesday morning but confirmed he would be voting to move it forward.
Just before votes were cast, Johnson said on the House floor that it was a “political exercise” and that the bill has “serious deficiencies.” Johnson said he hoped the Senate makes changes to it.
“[Trump] has nothing to hide,” Johnson said.
The president had also mounted opposition to the measure, including what sources said was an attempt to dissuade GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert in the White House Situation Room from supporting the discharge petition to force a floor vote.
But faced with growing support for the measure in the GOP-controlled House, Trump suddenly reversed course over the weekend and said Republicans should vote yes on releasing the files “because we have nothing to hide.”
Pressed if he will sign the bill should it reach his desk, Trump on Monday said he would.
“I’m all for it,” Trump said.
The measure — called “The Epstein Files Transparency Act” — would compel Attorney General Pam Bondi to make available all “unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials” in the Department of Justice’s possession related to Epstein.
The legislation seeks federal records on Epstein and his convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as other individuals, including government officials, named or referenced in connection with Epstein’s “criminal activities, civil settlements, immunity, plea agreements or investigatory proceedings.” Victims’ names and other identifying information would be excluded from disclosure, as would any items that may depict or contain child sex abuse material, according to the text of the proposed bill.
For months, Johnson has pointed at the House Oversight Committee’s inquiry — claiming that the panel’s probe is more far-reaching than the Khanna-Massie bill. Proponents of the bill argue that “the record of this vote will last longer than Donald Trump’s presidency.”
Trump does not need to wait for Congress to act — he could order the release immediately.
Even if the measure passes through the House and Senate and is ultimately signed into law by Trump, it’s unlikely the Justice Department would release the entire Epstein file, according to sources. Any materials related to ongoing investigations or White House claims of executive privilege will likely remain out of public view.
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of trafficking young girls and women.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson speaks during a press conference on Capitol Hill on November 18, 2025 in Washington, DC. Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — After months of anticipation, the House of Representatives on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a bill ordering the release of the Justice Department’s files on late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
It passed 427-1.
The bill will now head to the Senate, where its fate is uncertain.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has tried to avoid holding a vote in the lower chamber on the Epstein matter. In late July, Johnson sent the House home a day early for August recess because the House was paralyzed in a stalemate over the Epstein issue.
The speaker also sent the House home for more than 50 days during the longest government shutdown in U.S. history — delaying the swearing in of Democrat Adelita Grijalva. After the shutdown ended last week, the Arizona Democrat became the 218th signature on the Epstein discharge petition, compelling the speaker to bring a bill co-sponsored by Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie and California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna to the floor for a vote this week.
On Tuesday morning, Johnson accused Democrats of “forcing a political show vote on the Epstein files” but confirmed he would be voting to move it forward.
Ahead of the vote, Johnson said on the House floor that the vote is a “political exercise” and that the bill has “serious deficiencies.” Johnson said he hoped the Senate makes changes to it.
“[Trump] has nothing to hide,” Johnson said.
President Donald Trump had also mounted opposition to the measure, including what sources said was an attempt to dissuade GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert in the White House Situation Room from supporting the discharge petition to force a floor vote.
But faced with growing support for the measure in the GOP-controlled House, Trump suddenly reversed course over the weekend and said Republicans should vote yes on releasing the files “because we have nothing to hide.”
Pressed if he will sign the bill should it reach his desk, Trump on Monday said he would.
“I’m all for it,” Trump said.
The measure — called “The Epstein Files Transparency Act” — would compel Attorney General Pam Bondi to make available all “unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials” in the Department of Justice’s possession related to Epstein.
The legislation seeks federal records on Epstein and his convicted accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, as well as other individuals, including government officials, named or referenced in connection with Epstein’s “criminal activities, civil settlements, immunity, plea agreements or investigatory proceedings.” Victims’ names and other identifying information would be excluded from disclosure, as would any items that may depict or contain child sex abuse material, according to the text of the proposed bill.
For months, Johnson has pointed at the House Oversight Committee’s inquiry — claiming that the panel’s probe is more far-reaching than the Khanna-Massie bill. Proponents of the bill argue that “the record of this vote will last longer than Donald Trump’s presidency.”
Trump does not need to wait for Congress to act — he could order the release immediately.
Even if the measure passes through the House and Senate and is ultimately signed into law by Trump, it’s unlikely the Justice Department would release the entire Epstein file, according to sources. Any materials related to ongoing investigations or White House claims of executive privilege will likely remain out of public view.
Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on charges of trafficking young girls and women.
xPresident Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attend a signing ceremony at the Saudi Royal Court, May 13, 2025, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Win Mcnamee/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Tuesday marked the first time Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has set foot in the U.S. since 2018, following what U.S. intelligence has said was his approval of an operation that led to the murder of Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in Istanbul, causing global outrage.
As they met in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump responded to questions about 9/11 families angered over the visit, saying, “things happen, but he knew nothing about it, and we can leave it at that.”
Shortly before, Trump welcomed him to the White House with a lavish arrival ceremony, complete with Saudi flags next to American flags, a red carpet, horses and a color guard.
Cannons were fired in the background and a military flyover, featuring three F-35 and three F-16s fighters, took place overhead.
Trump and MBS shook hands and smiled for the cameras before entering their bilateral meeting.
“It’s an honor to be your friend and it’s an honor that you’re here,” Trump told later MBS inside the Oval Office.
The crown prince has previously denied ordering the murder of Khashoggi but ultimately acknowledged responsibility as the kingdom’s de facto ruler.
Trump denies conflict of interest, defends MBS over Khashoggi death
ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce asked Trump about whether there was a conflict of interest with his family doing business in Saudi Arabia while he was president, as The Trump Organization has multiple active projects in the kingdom.
Last month, the Trump Organization also announced plans for a Trump Plaza to be built in Saudi Arabia, complete with “a vibrant green spine inspired by Central Park that brings Manhattan-style vibrancy to the heart of Jeddah.”
Trump insisted he has nothing to do with his family business.
“What my family does is fine. They do business all over. They’ve done very little with Saudi Arabia, actually. They could. I’m sure they could do a lot. And anything they’ve done has been very good,” he said.
Bruce also brought up Khashoggi’s murder and the anger 9/11 families have expressed over MBS’s visit to the Oval Office. The kingdom has long been under fire over its alleged role in the attacks.
Trump defended MBS over the Khashoggi death and told Bruce, “You don’t have to embarrass our guest asking a question like this.”
“As far as this gentleman is concerned, he’s done a phenomenal job,” the president said of the prince. “You’re mentioning somebody that was extremely controversial,” he said referring to Khashoggi. “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen, but he knew nothing about it, and we can leave it at that.”
MBS addressed both issues.
“I feel painful about families of 9-11 in America, but we have to focus on reality,” he said.
The prince alleged that Osama bin Laden used Saudis to destroy the relationship between the kingdom and the United States.
“We’ve been working to prove [bin Laden] wrong and continuing developing our nation. It is critical for the safety of the world,” he said.
MBS said of “the journalist” that “it’s really painful to hear, anyone losing their life for no real purpose.”
“It’s been painful for us in Saudi Arabia,” he said. “We’ve did all the right steps of, investigation, etc., in Saudi Arabia, and we’ve improved our system to be sure that nothing happened like that. And it’s painful, and it’s a huge mistake. And we are doing our best that this doesn’t happen again.”
Trump will host a dinner for the Saudi leader on Tuesday night with a who’s who of guests.
Billionaire Elon Musk was slated to attend, marking his first time back in the White House after he left the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a source with knowledge of the plans told ABC News.
Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo, who plays in the Saudi Pro League, will also be at the White House Tuesday, a White House official confirmed to ABC News.
Ahead of the Tuesday meeting, the crown prince had apparently scored a highly coveted weapons deal that includes advanced F-35 fighter jets from the U.S.
Trump confirmed on Monday during an event in the Oval Office that he plans to sell F-35s to Saudi Arabia as part of a weapons deal, which experts say would mark the first time those jets have been sold to an Arab military.
A focus on defense and business
Trump and MBS spoke with reporters in the Oval Office, where the president said he was “very proud” of the job the crown prince had done.
The president touted the business deals and economic cooperation.
“We’ve been really good friends for a long period of time. We’ve always been on the same side of every issue,” Trump told MBS as he smiled on.
Now more than seven years later, the Saudi leader has business on his mind as he seeks to deepen ties with the U.S. through cooperation on oil and security, while also expanding the regime’s global outreach in finance, artificial intelligence and technology. Saudi Arabia notably boasts the world’s largest economy and maintains its lead as the world’s top oil producer.
The prince’s trip to the U.S. is being billed as an “official working visit,” and is designed to follow up and advance on Trump’s May appearance in Riyadh — the first official visit of Trump’s second term in office.
During that May visit, Trump announced a $142 billion arms package with the Saudis, which according to a White House fact sheet was the “the largest defense cooperation agreement” Washington has ever done.
“A lot of the financial and economic and artificial intelligence deals that they announced that were very ambiguous six months ago, I think we might start to see some teeth from them this time around and hopefully get a little bit more clarity on what those deals actually are,” said Elizabeth Dent, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and former director for the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula in the office of the Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon.
The agreement covers deals with more than a dozen U.S. defense companies in areas including air and missile defense, air force and space advancement, maritime security and communications, the fact sheet said.
Features from the deals included, a multi-billion dollar investment in America’s AI infrastructure, enhanced cooperation on civil nuclear energy, defense sales to enhance defense cooperation between both countries and fulfillments of the Saudis’ $600 billion investment pledge via dozens of targeted investments.
The kingdom in turn announced a $600 billion investment in the U.S. spanning multiple sectors, including energy security, defense, technology, global infrastructure and critical minerals.
“We believe, in the future openness of America. We believe in what you’re doing, Mr. President, really creating a lot of good things on good foundation to create more economic growth, more business in America,” the crown prince said.
Some of the other notable deals announced under the $600 billion pledge included investments in: U.S.-based artificial intelligence data centers and energy infrastructure; advanced technologies; Saudi infrastructure projects; U.S. energy equipment and commercial aircraft; the U.S. health care supply chain; and U.S. sports industries.
The potential sale of advanced F-35 fighter jets to the Saudi kingdom is likely to cause consternation from Israel.
U.S. law requires that any weapons sale package to countries in the Middle East does not risk Israel’s security, and it’s unclear if Trump has cleared that hurdle in permitting the sale of fighter jets to Saudi Arabia.
“There’s a whole host of issues that encompass this. Part of it is that Israel has to be able to maintain their congressionally-mandated qualitative military edge, which Congress does determine that,” Dent said. “And so, if the deal goes forward, I think we just have to see how they’re going to figure out the best way to ensure Israel can maintain that, as the only country in the Middle East that currently has F-35s.”
“I think the Israelis are probably pretty uncomfortable with these rumors swirling around without normalization in sight,” Dent added.
Saudis insist on ‘credible pathway’ to Palestinian statehood
The Saudi leader is seeking security guarantees from the U.S. amid turbulence in the Middle East. The security agreement with the U.S. has been in a development stage and has not yet been formalized, but the kingdom is seeking to deepen military and security ties between the two countries.
The security guarantees are viewed by some as part of a larger regional “megadeal” involving normalization with Israel, something Trump will surely push for, even as the Saudi kingdom has refused to do so under the current Israeli leadership.
Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Friday that he would discuss the issue with the crown prince.
“I hope that Saudi Arabia will be going into the Abraham Accords fairly shortly,” he said.
Earlier this year, Trump signed an unprecedented defense pact with Qatar via executive order that recognizes the “enduring alliance” between the U.S. and Qatar and provides Qatar an explicit security guarantee in the event of “external attack.”
Many analysts have said they believe the Saudis are looking for a similar defense pact with the U.S.
“I think it’ll be kind of similar to Qatar’s, where it basically just says it will consider any sort of threat or attack on Saudi Arabia to be an attack on the United States, and then the United States will respond appropriately, which could range from political to military options. So, I think that the administration will make sure to give themselves that decision space,” Dent said. “There’s a lot to work through here. Obviously, I think a lot of it will be about expectation management.”
The kingdom is notably invested in implementing the president’s 20-point Gaza peace plan. The kingdom has previously stated it wants to see the emergence of a credible path toward an independent and a free Palestine as a condition for supporting the demilitarization of Hamas and reconstruction of Gaza.
But Israel has put up a roadblock to Palestinian statehood, which will undoubtedly cause angst among Arab regional partners who are pushing for sustained peace in Gaza.
“Our opposition to a Palestinian state in any territory has not changed,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday during his weekly cabinet meeting. “Gaza will be demilitarized and Hamas will be disarmed, the easy way or the hard way.”
Netanyahu has long opposed a Palestinian state, saying in recent months that its creation would only reward Hamas and endanger Israel’s security.
ABC News’ Christopher Boccia, Will Steakin and Hannah Demissie contributed to this report.
A recent image of Saad Almadi. Courtesy Ibrahim Almadi
(WASHINGTON) — The son of Saad Almadi who is held in Saudi Arabia on an exit ban for allegations of “cyber crimes” by the kingdom, said that President Donald Trump has failed to make his father’s release a priority as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman comes to Washington for a state visit Tuesday.
Ibrahim Almadi, whose 75-year old father was detained in Saudi Arabia on a family visit in 2021, says his father has been “harassed” by authorities there and seeks a return to the United States, which has been his home for decades. Almadi is a dual American-Saudi citizen who emigrated to the U.S. in 1976.
When he was arrested in 2021, Saudi authorities accused Saad Almadi of terrorism for 14 tweets he wrote that were critical of the royal family. Two years later, the charges were reduced to so-called “cyber crimes,” and he was sentenced to an exit ban that bars him from leaving the kingdom until 2054.
One of the tweets, which were published while Saad Almadi was in the U.S., advocated for the renaming of a Washington, D.C., street for Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist who was killed at a Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Trump, asked about the Almadi case, told reporters in May he would “take a look” at it.
In an interview with ABC News, Ibrahim Almadi said U.S. diplomacy achieved his father’s release from detention and even “saved his life” in 2023. But he argued that bin Salman, the de-facto Saudi leader who will be greeted by Trump at the White House before a state dinner, is still “getting away with jailing Americans” by banning his father’s travel.
That Saudi Arabia, an American ally, has not released the elder Almadi is “insulting,” Ibrahim Almadi told ABC. He contended that Trump, who has enjoyed warm relations with Saudi Arabia, could make “one call” to free Almadi.
Trump has made the release of Americans detained abroad a priority, often dealing with adversaries to bring U.S. citizens home — like in the case of Venezuela, with which Washington has no formal diplomatic ties.
Asked for comment about Saad Almadi, an official at the National Security Council declined to discuss details. The official emphasized that “bringing our citizens home is a Number One top priority for President Trump,” pointing to “more than 75 Americans he has liberated in the last 10 months.”
ABC News has reached out to the Saudi embassy in Washington for comment on the Almadi case.
Ibrahim Almadi said U.S. officials have repeatedly told him in the four years since the arrest that they were in “final talks” and “advanced communication” to win his father’s release from the country.
“What my feeling is now — and my father[‘s] feeling — it’s a dismissal of the case,” he said. “They are dismissing the case.”
It leaves the Almadi son pessimistic ahead of the state visit, convinced that the crown prince “is using him as a card,” he said.
There are three Americans who are wrongfully held on exit bans in Saudi Arabia, according to the Foley Foundation, which advocates for American hostages and wrongful detainees held abroad.
