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Justice Department investigating NFL over games on paid platforms, sources say

April 9, 2026 / 1:48 PM EDT / CBS News

By Jennifer Jacobs, Jennifer Jacobs Senior White House reporter

Jennifer Jacobs is a senior White House reporter at CBS News.

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Jennifer Jacobs, Ed O’Keefe, Ed O’Keefe Senior White House and Political Correspondent

Ed O’Keefe is CBS News’ senior White House and political correspondent reporting for all CBS News platforms. He’s part of the team covering President Trump and covered all four years of Joe Biden’s presidency. From the White House to the campaign trail, O’Keefe’s reports stretch from the politics of the moment to how policy enacted in Washington affects the nation and the world.

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Ed O’Keefe, Sarah N. Lynch

Sarah N. Lynch Senior Justice Department Reporter

Sarah N. Lynch is the senior Justice Department reporter for CBS News, based in Washington, D.C.

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Sarah N. Lynch

The National Football League is being investigated by the federal government for practices that allegedly harm consumers for licensing games simultaneously to multiple platforms — paid streaming platforms, paid cable networks, and others, sources told CBS News.

A government official familiar with the matter said the probe is about affordability for consumers and creating an “even playing field for providers.” The Wall Street Journal first reported that the DOJ opened an investigation into the NFL.

The NFL said in a statement that its media distribution model is the “most fan and broadcaster-friendly in the entire sports and entertainment industry,” and noted that 87% of its games are available on broadcast television, “including 100% of games in the markets of the competing teams.”

“The 2025 season was our most viewed since 1989 and reflects the strength of the NFL distribution model and its wide availability to all fans,” the NFL said.

The investigation comes as the NFL has reopened negotiations with Paramount Skydance, the parent company of CBS News, which owns the rights to broadcast NFL games on Sunday afternoons during the season. Exercising a clause in the existing TV rights contracts that allows the league to reopen a media rights deal if a partner broadcaster is purchased by a new owner, CNBC reports the NFL is seeking as much as $1 billion more per season from Paramount Skydance so the network can continue broadcasting games through the 2033-34 season.

NFL broadcasters, most notably Fox, have voiced concerns the NFL is spreading its games across too many streaming services and could make watching games prohibitively expensive — and confusing — for football fans. A recent editorial by The Wall Street Journal, also owned by Fox’s owner Rupert Murdoch, argued the league might be violating its antitrust exemptions by spreading out its content across so many platforms.

Republican Sen. Mike Lee, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights, said he’s “glad they’re tackling this.”

“In 1961, Congress enacted the Sports Broadcasting Act, granting limited antitrust immunity to allow professional football teams to collectively license the ‘sponsored telecasts’ of their games to national broadcast networks,” Lee said. “… To the extent collectively licensed game packages are placed behind subscription paywalls, these arrangements may no longer align with the statutory concept of sponsored telecasting or the consumer-access rationale underlying the antitrust exemption.”

Texas Dem Talarico’s ‘culture of violence’ remarks resurface as he denies defund police ties

April 9, 2026 3:07pm EDT / Fox News

Democrat James Talarico is taking heat for telling police, ‘I don’t want you in my school doing discipline’

By Peter Pinedo Fox News

FIRST ON FOX: Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico is pushing back on the idea that he supports defunding the police, calling it a “flat out lie.”

Republicans are confronting Talarico with resurfaced comments from a 2019 episode of the Trey Blocker Show, in which he suggests that a heavy police presence in schools without sufficient mental health professionals contributes to a “culture of violence.”

Democrats believe they have a shot at flipping the critical Senate seat blue for the first time in decades. But the GOP hopes to defend their Senate majority by highlighting Talarico’s more controversial stances to undermine his moderate appeal.

The latest to be unearthed is from the 2019 interview, in which Talarico decried plans to increase police officer presence in schools without also placing more emphasis on mental health.

FLASHBACK: DEM SENATE NOMINEE CALLED ILLEGAL ALIENS ‘CONSTITUENTS,’ GAVE ADVICE ON EVADING ICE

Democrat James Talarico (left) is taking heat for comments he made in 2019 suggesting increased police presence in school without enough emphasis on mental health contributes to a “culture of violence.”(Bob Daemmrich/The Texas Tribune/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Eric Gay/AP Photo)

“We’re all concerned about school safety and recent school shootings, and that concern, in some ways, has been channeled unproductively toward militarizing schools and toward kind of leaning into a culture of violence and adding more law enforcement officials into campuses,” he posited.

As a solution, Talarico, a former middle school teacher,touted the first bill he introduced as a member of the Texas House of Representatives, which would have mandated a set ratio of mental health workers for every police officer placed in a school. He stressed that “if a crime has been committed, a law has been broken or there’s an immediate danger to students, of course, we want our law enforcement officials to address it,” but emphasized that “law enforcement officials shouldn’t be conducting behavior interventions.”

Commenting on this, Republican National Committee spokesman Zach Kraft called the bill “a scary combination of two of James Talarico’s favorite things,” which he said are “defunding the police and pushing his woke agenda on kids.”

Kraft told Fox News Digital that “Texans will have the same answer for Talarico at the ballot box that he had for police, ‘we don’t want you here.’”

TALARICO CONFRONTED ON PAST TWEETS ACCUSING WHITE PEOPLE OF SPREADING ‘VIRUS’ OF RACISM

Texas Democratic Senate candidate Texas state Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin, waves before speaking for the first time since winning the Democratic nomination in Austin, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (Eric Gay/AP)

However, JT Ennis, a spokesperson for Talarico’s campaign, called this a “flat-out lie.”

“James opposes defunding the police and has a proven track record voting to send billions of dollars to support law enforcement,” Ennis told Fox News Digital.

Explaining his bill on the Trey Blocker Show, Talarico said it “directly addresses the school-to-prison pipeline” and “hopefully will create a balance between security and hardening, which has been proposed in some of the proposed school safety plans, and what has been proven to be effective, which is creating a safe and healthy school climate.”

“Everybody from the Department of Education to Secret Service has said that’s the best way to prevent school shootings, is to have relationships with your students on campus, not to create a moat around your campus,” he said.

He stressed that police “shouldn’t be counseling students.”

“They’re not trained to do that, nor should they. They have a tough enough job on their own, and we shouldn’t be adding to their plate,” he went on, noting, “Just like, as a certified educator, they wouldn’t want me roaming the streets in a cruiser, you don’t want that, and I don’t want you in my school doing discipline.”

JAMES TALARICO’S PAST ANTI-MEAT STANCE GOES VIRAL, DRAWS REPUBLICAN FIRE FROM ACROSS TEXAS POLITICAL LANDSCAPE

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and his bitter rival, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, are heading to a runoff in Texas, further extending their bloody primary battle until late May. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images; Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Despite some bipartisan support, Talarico’s bill stalled in committee. If passed and signed into law, the measure would have required school districts to hire four mental health professionals for every law enforcement official in districts or schools with an enrollment of 5,000 or more students. Districts and schools with between 5,000 and 500 students would have been required to have three mental health workers per police officer. Those with fewer than 500 students would need two mental health workers per law enforcement officer.

Ennis said the bill “supports the police by adding desperately needed mental health officials to help prevent tragic events like the mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas.”

Talarico was recently propelled to the national scene after years in state politics, culminating in a stunning upset victory for the Democratic Senate nomination over an established name, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas. With the nomination secured, he is set to face either incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, or state Attorney General Ken Paxton, depending on which candidate wins the May GOP primary runoff.

Though Democrats are hopeful he can flip the seat blue, Talarico’s campaign has been marked by intense controversy over his history of progressive statements, including claiming “God is nonbinary.” Despite this, he is running a competitive race for a Senate seat critical to both parties’ hopes of securing a majority in the upper chamber.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Ennis said that “while John Cornyn, Ken Paxton, and the billionaires who prop them up play politics with school shootings by presenting a false choice between funding law enforcement and funding mental health resources for kids, James will continue standing up against both political parties to fix this broken, corrupt political system.”

In response, Matt Mackowiak, Cornyn’s campaign senior advisor, doubled down, telling Fox News Digital that “James Talarico is a ‘defund the police’ radical who wants to make our schools and our streets less safe.”

Meanwhile, Mackowiak said Cornyn “has always backed the blue and has been endorsed by the largest statewide law enforcement organizations in Texas.”

Fox News Digital also reached out to Paxton’s campaign for comment.

Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.

Automatic military draft registration takes effect in December. Here’s how it would work

2026-04-09T19:25:46.847Z / CNN

By Kaanita Iyer

34 min ago

PUBLISHED Apr 9, 2026, 3:25 PM ET

Congressional news

US Army soldiers raise their right hands as President Donald Trump conducts during a re-enlistment ceremony in Washington, DC, in June 2025.

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images/File

Young, eligible men will be automatically registered for the military draft pool starting in December as part of a measure tucked into the annual defense policy bill Congress signed into law late last year.

Men ages 18 to 26 must already register for selective service in case a draft is required. The last time a draft was in effect was February 1973, during the Vietnam War.

Automatic registration is already in place in 46 states and territories, according to the Selective Service System’s 2024 report. The SSS proposed a rule to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs late last month to implement the practice nationwide.

The nationwide measure has no connection to the ongoing war with Iran and was passed with bipartisan support months before the current conflict with the country. But the Trump administration has declined to rule out the possibility of putting US troops on the ground, and the war has led to renewed attention on the draft policy.

CNN has reached out to the Selective Service for more information about the proposed rule.

Here’s what you need to know about automatic Selective Service registration.

Who will be registered and how will it work?

According to the National Defense Authorization Act, which President Donald Trump signed into law in December, the automatic registration will apply to male US citizens and “every other male person” in the country between the ages of 18 and 26.

The mandatory registration applies to green-card holders, refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented men. Those on a nonimmigrant visas are exempt.

Currently, in states that haven’t enacted automatic registration, men must register “within 30 days of (their) 18th birthday,” according to the SSS website. The agency “accepts late registrations up until” a man’s 26th birthday.

It is a felony to not register for selective service and can result in the loss of certain benefits, like some student loans and federal jobs. It’s also a violation of the Military Selective Service Act, which could lead to imprisonment up to five years and a fine of up to $250,000.

Some places, like Arizona and Delaware, and Washington, DC, automatically register eligible men when they apply for driver’s license or another form of state identification. Meanwhile, in New York, the application for driver’s license includes a section that allows eligible men to register for selective service.

According to the SSS’ 2023 report, over 60% of registration came from state motor vehicle departments.

Democratic Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, who sponsored the automatic selective service language, told CNN in a statement, “Making registration automatic, not only saves taxpayer dollars by eliminating the need to advertise but finally ensures that young men are not unknowingly penalized.”

In the statement, Houlahan stressed that the measure has bipartisan support.

The NDAA passed with bipartisan votes in the House and Senate.

What happens in a draft?

Congress would have to approve of a draft before one ever took place. And not all registered men would be enlisted to serve. There would be a lottery, in which birthdays and numbers are randomly chosen.

People whose 20th birthdays fall in the year of the draft would be the first to get induction orders, followed, in order, by the following age groups: 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 19 and those who are more than six months past their 18th birthday.

People who are selected would be allowed to make a request for exemption or deferment. All men remaining would then go through “physical, mental, and moral evaluation” and those who demonstrate that they are fit to serve will be selected for service, according to SSS.

Arrests made in California fraud crackdown targeting LA hospice ring allegedly behind $267 million in bogus charges

2026-04-09 1:00 PM EDT / CBS News

By Laura Geller, Laura Geller National Investigative Producer, Laura Geller, Rachel Gold, Rachel Gold Investigative Data Reporter, Rachel Gold, Adam Yamaguchi, Adam Yamaguchi Correspondent, Adam Yamaguchi

The California Department of Justice and several state agencies arrested five people Wednesday in a crackdown on an alleged hospice fraud ring, and officials said more arrests will come. Several suspects received “notices to appear” in court and will face arrest warrants if they don’t show. In total, the state filed charges against 21 suspects.

State Attorney General Rob Bonta said the scheme defrauded California of $267 million through bogus charges to Medi-Cal, the state-administered Medicaid program. Americans pay into Medicare through taxes and premiums, so defrauding it would be essentially stealing from all American taxpayers.

“What will address fraud is us doing the hard work — heads down, sleeves rolled up, doing the investigation, doing the arrests, doing the prosecutions, holding folks accountable,” Bonta told CBS News.

Bonta said the defendants collected money without providing a single legitimate hospice service. The law enforcement effort, called Operation Skip Trace, targeted ten locations in Southern California.

According to the California Department of Justice, individuals purchased identifying information for non-California residents from the dark web and used them to enroll in Medi-Cal. Then, straw owners bought 14 hospice companies and billers began billing the government for hospice care for the stolen identities.

“There were no actual services, no hospice centers or any real paperwork, it was all made up as part of this fraudulent criminal activity,” Bonta told CBS News.

The charges include conspiracy to commit health care fraud, health care fraud, money laundering and identity theft. Defendants also face an aggravated white collar crime enhancement and an aggravated money laundering enhancement.

All of the hospice companies named in the complaints were state-licensed and approved by the California Health and Human Services Agency to bill Medi-Cal.The initial allegation of fraud came from the California Department of Health Care Services.

Tyler Sadwith, DHCS’ chief deputy director of health care programs and California state Medicaid director, told CBS News the state is currently investigating over 300 hospices for possible license revocation.

“Taxpayers have an absolute right to expect that the administrators of this program are really prioritizing program integrity,” he said. “That continues to be part of our core mission. That continues to be the top priority.”

For months, CBS News has examined the business and financial records of every hospice currently operating in LA County, and applied the same indicators of potential fraud identified in a state audit. The CBS News analysis revealed that over 700 of the roughly 1,800 hospices in LA County, trigger multiple red flags for fraud as defined by the state.

On April 2, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that authorities arrested and federally charged eight people in connection with a health care and hospice fraud investigation. Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said the defendants, including three nurses, a chiropractor and a psychologist, were charged with defrauding the health care system out of more than $50 million.

Fraud in public services has become a thorny political issue as the Republican-led federal government focuses most attention on cases in Democratic states.

“We are upholding as a priority, making sure that taxpayer dollars are going to healthcare services for the Medi-Cal members who rely on them,” Sadwith said. “That requires partnership with the federal government. Right now, it is a challenging time between some states like California and our federal partners.”

Bonta said fraud is a problem that crosses partisan lines.

“It happens across all 50 states, red and blue, happens at the federal level, happens at the state level. California is not immune, and we are the biggest state, and we have some of the biggest levels of funding,” he said.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said California Gov. Gavin Newsom is not a target, but “forty-nine states do not have the kinds of problems that Los Angeles County has.” CBS News has requested interviews with Newsom on multiple occasions.

In a statement, Newsom said: “For years, California has led the charge to protect public programs from fraud and abuse. We hold accountable to the fullest extent of the law anyone who tries to rip off taxpayers and take advantage of public programs, particularly those as sensitive as hospice care. I thank the Department of Health Care Services and the California DOJ’s Department of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse for their swift work to bring these charges forward.”

Sadwith said the state continues to seek partnership with federal agencies “prioritizing this, allocating our resources, strengthening our systems, putting new safeguards in place to learn from what happened here and protect the program. So this never happens again.”

Senate GOP vows to ‘go it alone’ on ICE funding as Dems double down on shutdown

April 9, 2026 2:58pm EDT / Fox News

Trump has set a June 1 deadline as John Barrasso and Lindsey Graham prepare the reconciliation framework

By Alex Miller, Fox News

Senate Republicans are meeting with President Donald Trump Friday to crystallize a plan to fund immigration operations that would cut out Democrats altogether.

Congressional Republicans are turning to the party-line budget reconciliation process to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for years to come in a move that can’t be blocked by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

Republicans have a short timetable to get the job done given that Trump has set a deadline for the bill to be on his desk by June 1.

‘WE DIDN’T CAVE’: THUNE HIGHLIGHTS SCHUMER, DEMS’ LOSSES IN DHS FUNDING DEAL

Senate Republicans are meeting with President Donald Trump Friday to crystallize a plan to fund immigration operations that would cut out Democrats altogether.(Alex Brandon/The Associated Press)

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said he and Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., are meeting with Trump on Friday to prepare the framework of the package.

“We’re going to have to go it alone because Democrats aren’t interested in funding national security at a time of increased concerns around the world,” Barrasso said.

Republicans will first have to produce a budget resolution to provide guardrails for the forthcoming package. Barrasso said Senate Republicans plan to do it in a “targeted way, focused and get it done fast.”

A key hurdle in the process, however, is getting both House and Senate Republicans aligned on a plan. Senate Republicans want to keep a reconciliation package as narrow as possible, while some in the House are eyeing funding the entire Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in one massive bill.

GOP RAILS AGAINST ‘S— SANDWICH’ DEAL AS ALL EYES TURN TO HOUSE TO END DHS SHUTDOWN

Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said he and Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., are meeting with Trump to prepare the framework of the package.(Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Graham said recently that he envisions two reconciliation bills in 2026, one targeting ICE and CBP and another serving as a vehicle for several GOP priorities, including portions of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act and provisions to tackle fraud.

“Reconciliation has limits, but we’re going to make a down payment on the SAVE Act in reconciliation in the fall,” Graham said Monday on a South Carolina radio show, “Straight Talk with Bill Frady.”

But a key House GOP voice won’t be there.

A source told Fox News Digital House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, Graham’s counterpart in the process, will not attend the White House meeting Friday.

Barrasso said there would likely be discussions on a “number of topics” for reconciliation, but the end goal for Senate Republicans remains funding ICE and CBP.

GOP RACES TO PASS ICE, BORDER PATROL FUNDING BILL AS PRIORITIES PILE UP, DIVISIONS EMERGE

Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., argued that, as with the creation of the 2025 “big, beautiful bill,” Republicans will likely look for areas to cut spending to fund ICE and CBP.(Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc)

“What I’m telling you today is we’re moving ahead in spite of incredible obstruction by the Democrats,” Barrasso said. “We’re focusing immigration and funding, immigration custom enforcement and border patrol, with Republican votes alone using reconciliation.”

Senate Democrats aren’t backing down from their shutdown position. Their demand for reforms to immigration operations, like requiring judicial warrants to search people’s homes and unmasking DHS agents in exchange for funding ICE and CBP has led the ongoing shutdown to stretch beyond 50 days.

Despite being cut out of the funding process altogether under Republicans’ reconciliation plan, Democrats still view their position as a winning strategy.

Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., argued that, as with the creation of the 2025 “big, beautiful bill,” Republicans will likely look for areas to cut spending to fund ICE and CBP, a move that could come back to bite them in the midterm elections.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Kim told Fox News Digital Republicans bypassing Democrats to fund immigration operations does not make their shutdown posture “moot.”

“We’re trying to make sure we’re standing up for the voice of the American people. If Republicans want to go around the American people, then they will answer to voters in November,” Kim said.

“And the Democrats, we will find our way back into gavels and power, and we will do what we can at that point to do what the American people wanted from the start, which is to focus on their concerns and not have this, you know, army of masked ICE agents without identification, without judicial warrants, terrorizing our neighborhoods.”

Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.

By David Shepardson

April 9, 2026 4:24 PM UTC Updated 2 hours ago

节点运行失败

An American Airlines Airbus A321 plane takes off from Los Angeles International airport (LAX) in Los Angeles, California, U.S. March 28, 2018. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

WASHINGTON, April 9 (Reuters) – American Airlines said on Thursday it aims to resume flights ​to Venezuela as soon as April 30 after winning ‌approval from the U.S. Transportation Department last month.

The airline said it plans to resume services to Venezuela for the first time in more than ​six years, offering a daily service between Miami and Caracas ​on an Embraer 175 through Envoy, its wholly owned ⁠regional subsidiary, pending additional government approvals.

The Reuters Iran Briefing newsletter keeps you informed with the latest developments and analysis of the Iran war. Sign up here.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy ​lifted a 2019 order in January that had barred U.S. ​airlines from flying to Venezuela, after President Donald Trump directed him to make the move, and approved American’s request for flights in March.

The Transportation Security ​Administration was in Caracas about a month ago to review ​airport security procedures, sources told Reuters, a necessary step to resume flights.

American announced ‌plans ⁠to resume service ‍just weeks after the U.S. military seized the country’s leader Nicolas Maduro.

Trump in January asked the Transportation Department to lift restrictions that currently bar U.S. flights after a discussion with ​the country’s acting ​President Delcy ⁠Rodríguez.

American, which started operating in Venezuela in 1987, was the largest U.S. airline in the country ​before it suspended the service in 2019 after ​the U.S. ⁠ban. It said the planned daily flights will provide the opportunity for business, leisure and humanitarian travel.

The State Department lifted Venezuela from ⁠its “Do ​Not Travel” list for Americans in ​March, issuing a less serious “Reconsider Travel” advisory due to risk of crime, kidnapping, terrorism, ​and poor health infrastructure.

Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Kirsten Donovan

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Independence Arch, or so-called “Arc de Trump,” plans include taxpayer funds

2026-04-09 1:28 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington— American taxpayers will help fund the construction of President Trump’s planned triumphal arch in Arlington, Virginia, according to the spending plan for the National Endowment for the Humanities released by the administration this week.

According to the endowment’s spending plan approved by the Office of Management and Budget in September, $2 million in special initiative funds and $13 million in matching funds “are reserved for the arch.” NEH, an independent federal agency, often funds projects through a combination of federal dollars and matching private contributions. NOTUS first reported that taxpayer funds are expected to be used for the arch.

It’s not yet clear what private funds may go toward Independence Arch, though the president previously indicated that leftover private funds from his White House ballroom addition could be used. The White House has not yet disclosed an estimated cost for the arch. The president has said the massive ballroom he’s building at the White House at a cost of $300 million to $400 million will be funded entirely by private donors, in contrast to the arch.

OMB and NEH did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The president says the arch will commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary, and he’s previously displayed a model in the Oval Office. The renderings and model show an arc resembling France’s Arc de Triomphe sitting across from the Lincoln Memorial on the Virginia side of the Potomac River by Washington, D.C. The president said he wants the arch to be the “biggest one of all” in the world, even though the proposed site is situated along a flight path for nearby Reagan National Airport.

“It’s the only city in the world that’s of great importance that doesn’t have a triumphal arc,” the president said in December. “… And this one is going to blow them all away. The one that people know mostly is the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France. And we’re going to top it by I think a lot.”

When CBS News’ Ed O’Keefe asked the president in October whom the arch is for, he responded, “Me. Going to be beautiful.” After the president said the arch was for him, some nicknamed it the “Arc de Trump.”

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/trump-says-proposed-arch-to-commemorate-u-s-250th-anniversary-is-for-him/

Melania Trump blasts ‘lies’ linking her to Epstein and calls on Congress to hold hearing for victims

2026-04-09T18:43:59.489Z / CNN

By Betsy Klein, MJ Lee

Updated 6 min ago
Updated Apr 9, 2026, 3:57 PM ET
PUBLISHED Apr 9, 2026, 2:43 PM ET

Epstein files Congressional news Trump family Donald Trump

Melania Trump says ‘lies’ linking her to Epstein ‘need to end’

First lady Melania Trump blasted “lies linking me to the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein” in extraordinary and rare remarks from the White House Thursday, attempting to distance herself from the convicted sex offender while calling on Congress to hold public hearings allowing his victims to testify on Capitol Hill.

That call for action directly undercut ongoing messaging from her husband and the West Wing, renewing attention on a topic that was fading from public discourse amid the war with Iran. President Donald Trump and his top lieutenants have sought to downplay Epstein and his victims, repeatedly and publicly stating that the country is ready to move on.

Donald Trump was aware his wife planned to make Thursday’s statement, a person familiar with the matter said.

“I’ve never been friends with Epstein. Donald and I were invited to the same parties as Epstein from time to time, since overlapping in social circles is common in New York City and Palm Beach,” the first lady said in remarks to reporters. “To be clear, I never had a relationship with Epstein or his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.”

She called on Congress to provide a forum for Epstein’s victims to testify on Capitol Hill.

“I call on Congress to provide the women who have been victimized by Epstein with a public hearing specifically centered around the survivors, give these victims their opportunity to testify under oath in front of Congress with the power of sworn testimony,” Trump said.

“Each and every woman should have her day to tell her story in public, if she wishes, and then her testimony should be permanently entered into the congressional record.”

Donald Trump, Melania Trump, Jeffrey Epstein, and Ghislaine Maxwell pose together at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, in February 2000.

Davidoff Studios Photography/Getty Images

Former Attorney General Pamela Bondi, who was fired in part over her handling of the Epstein files, was asked to apologize to Epstein survivors during a February congressional hearing and declined to do so.

Melania Trump also sought to downplay her relationship with Maxwell, Epstein’s associate who was convicted of sex trafficking. CNN had inquired with her office in February about a friendly 2002 email exchange between the two women — which was released as part of a tranche of documents pertaining to the Epstein investigation — but did not receive a response. Trump signed that email, “Love, Melania” and Maxwell responded, calling her “sweet pea.”

On Thursday, Trump characterized the email as “casual” and a “polite reply.”

Several Epstein survivors were surprised to see — if not totally unaware of — Trump’s remarks Thursday. Sources on Capitol Hill echoed that confusion, saying they were unsure what had prompted the first lady’s unusual remarks.

The House Oversight Committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Robert Garcia, said in a statement shortly after: “We agree with First Lady Melania Trump’s call for a public hearing with the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein. We encourage Chairman Comer to respond to the First Lady’s request and schedule a public hearing immediately.” CNN has reached out to GOP Rep. James Comer’s office for comment.

One advocate for the victims said that while Trump’s acknowledgement of the harm Epstein wrought was a positive step, they needed legal mechanisms to pursue the truth that wouldn’t harm survivors.

The first lady has never spoken publicly on the issue prior to Thursday’s remarks, ignoring a shouted question about Maxwell during an unrelated event in February. She has, however, filed lawsuits over past efforts to tie her to Epstein, countering what she characterized Thursday as “smears” that were “mean-spirited and politically-motivated.”

Trump has successfully received retractions and apologies from HarperCollins Publishers, Democratic strategist James Carville and The Daily Beast.

She also emphasized Thursday that she was unaware of Epstein’s crimes despite their social connection.

“I have never had any knowledge of (Epstein’s) abuse of his victims. I was never involved in any capacity. I was not a participant. I was never on Epstein’s plane, and never visited his private island,” she said, describing his actions as “repulsive.”

The first lady has kept a relatively low profile in her second term, largely splitting her time between Palm Beach and New York, promoting her eponymous documentary, focusing her efforts on responsible AI use for children, reunifying children allegedly abducted by Russia with their families in Ukraine, and legislation protecting Americans from deepfake and revenge pornography. Her office advised a “statement” from the first lady on Wednesday, but declined to provide any details, with a senior adviser telling the New York Post that the news would “spread internationally.”

This story has been updated with additional information.

Kevin Liptak and Donald Judd contributed to this report.

Melania Trump denies relationship with Epstein, urges Congress to hold hearing with his victims

April 9, 2026 3:21 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington— First lady Melania Trump on Thursday delivered remarks denying any friendship or relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, and she called on Congress to hold a public hearing with Epstein’s victims.

In a six-minute livestreamed statement from the White House, the first lady for the first time following the Justice Department’s release of troves of Epstein records publicly addressed the Epstein matter and directly. The first lady said “now is the time for Congress to act.”

“I call on Congress to provide the women who have been victimized by Epstein with a public hearing specifically centered around the survivors,” the first lady told a group of gathered reporters at the White House. “Give these victims their opportunity to testify under oath in front of Congress with the power of sworn testimony. Each and every woman should have her day to tell her story in public, if she wishes, and then her testimony should be permanently entered into the congressional record. Then and only then, we will have the truth. Thank you.”

It’s unclear why the first lady delivered her statement on Thursday, instead of immediately following the release of specific records. Old photos of the Trumps with Epstein and Maxwell have been publicly available, and the Justice Department emails revealed the first lady and Maxwell corresponded at least once over email.

Melania Trump said Epstein did not introduce her to Donald Trump, and the brief email exchange released in the DOJ records between her and Maxwell was merely a “polite,” “casual” reply.

“I am not Epstein’s victim,” the first lady said. “Epstein did not introduce me to Donald Trump. I met my husband by chance at a New York City party in 1998. This initial encounter with my husband is documented in detail in my book Melania. The first time I crossed paths with Epstein was in the year 2000 at an event Donald and I attended together. At the time, I had never met Epstein and had no knowledge of his criminal undertakings. Numerous fake images and statements about Epstein and me have been circulating on social media for years now. Be cautious about what you believe. These images and stories are completely false.”

“I have never had any knowledge of Epstein’s abuse of his victims,” she added. “I was never involved in any capacity. I was not a participant. Was never on Epstein’s plane. And never visited his private island.”