Live updates: Trump team looking to Joe Rogan for help amid lingering Epstein-Ghislaine Maxwell fallout, report says

Current and former federal prison workers are reportedly furious that Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell was recently transferred to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas known as “Club Fed” for its relatively relaxed conditions.

Josh Marcus has the story.

Wall Street closed higher today following a rally in Apple’s stock.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.7% Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.2% and the Nasdaq composite rose 1.2%.

Apple alone accounted for more than a third of the S&P 500’s gain ahead of an announcement at the White House, where it’s expected to increase its U.S. investments by an additional $100 billion over the next four years.

Trading elsewhere on Wall Street was mixed following a jumble of profit reports.

One of the purposes of the so-called Epstein strategy meeting hosted by Vice President JD Vance is to smooth over tensions between FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi, CNN reports.

The pair is said to have feuded over the handling of the Epstein files. Patel has pushed conspiracy theories about Jeffrey Epstein and his alleged “client list” in the past.

Just a week ago, there were reports suggesting that Bondi would become President Donald Trump’s “fall guy” for the chaos that erupted over the Epstein case.

Here’s our earlier coverage:

Despite an earlier report that it had been canceled, senior Trump administration officials are expected to gather at Vice President JD Vance’s official residence this evening to discuss the Jeffrey Epstein case and other matters, three sources familiar with the meeting confirmed to NBC News.

Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles have all been invited to attend, the sources said. FBI Director Kash Patel is also believed to be going.

CNN first reported that Vance and senior officials would be discussing the Epstein case at the meeting.

Vance spokesperson William Martin dismissed CNN’s reporting as “pure fiction” in a statement to NBC News.

The purpose of the meeting is reportedly to try and get everyone on the same page as the administration continues to be attacked by both Democrats and members of Trump’s base over its handling of the Epstein case, amid calls for greater transparency.

The group will also discuss other topics, the sources to NBC, with one person downplaying the notion that the agenda was solely driven by the Epstein controversy.

“There was never a supposed meeting scheduled at the Vice President’s residence to discuss Epstein Strategy,” Martin told the network.

Administration officials often gather at Vance’s residence, and the vice president frequently hosts colleagues and lawmakers there, one source noted.

Judge Richard Berman had given the Trump administration until 12 p.m. ET on Friday to respond to yesterday’s filings by the victims of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell regarding the unsealing of grand jury testimony and accompanying exhibits.

He wants to know to what extent the information included has already been made public and what the government’s position is on unsealing the exhibits in addition to the transcripts.

“The survivors support transparency when it can be achieved without sacrificing their safety, privacy, or dignity,” lawyers for the survivors wrote in a letter to the judge weighing unsealing transcripts from the investigation into Maxwell.

“But transparency cannot come at the expense of the very people whom the justice system is sworn to protect — particularly amid contemporaneous events that magnify risk and trauma: the public platforming of Ms. Maxwell as a purportedly credible commentator despite her sex-trafficking conviction and perjury charges, her transfer to lower-security custody, a government request to unseal filed without conferral, and the looming specter of clemency,” they added.

Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, who, after his death, was convicted of sex trafficking girls and young women as his accomplice, is opposing the government’s requests to unseal the grand jury transcripts in her criminal case.

The Trump administration has been firefighting the fallout from the so-called “Epstein Files” since the DOJ released a memo last month that contained little new information and concluded no further investigation was warranted into the late sex offender’s alleged sex trafficking scheme.

Kelly Rissman reports on Maxwell’s opposition to the release of the grand jury transcripts that led to her trial and conviction in federal court.

Donald Trump reportedly intends to hold a direct, in-person meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin as soon as next week, according to sources familiar with the plan, who spoke with The New York Times. This would then be followed by a proposed trilateral summit involving him, Putin, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Trump disclosed these ambitious intentions during a call with European leaders on Wednesday. The proposed meetings would be exclusive to the three men, notably excluding any European counterparts, despite the continent’s ongoing efforts to mediate peace.

One source indicated that the European leaders, who have sought to play a coordinating role in ending the violence between Russia and Ukraine, appeared to accept Trump’s outline.

However, it was not immediately clear whether either Putin or Zelensky had formally agreed to the plan described by Trump. Zelensky was present on the call with European leaders, subsequently stating that he had a “conversation with President Trump” and that his and the European leaders’ position was that “the war must end,” specifically “an honest end.”

The call also included Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Sir Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff.

Rep. Jasmine Crockett has mocked President Donald Trump’s praise of Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, formerly his personal lawyer.

The Texas Democrat made the comments on CNN’s The Source with anchor Kaitlan Collins, who asked about Trump’s remarks from a news conference earlier in the day, in which he praised Blanche for the work he is doing on the Jeffrey Epstein case.

Crockett said she doesn’t trust Blanche the same way the president seems to trust him.

“[Trump] talked about how great [Blanche] is, but the last time I checked, [Blanche] lost that case for the president in New York,” Crockett said. “So, there was definitely a group of jurors who didn’t believe he was this great, incredible attorney to be trusted.”

Crockett was referring to Trump’s state case, where he was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a payment he made to porn star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election. Blanche and the District Attorney of New Jersey, Alina Habba, were Trump’s criminal defense team during the trial.

As deputy attorney general, Blanche has most recently played the part of mediator between the Trump administration and disgraced Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.

Blanche has met with Maxwell and her attorney twice in Tallahassee, where she was serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking underage girls for Epstein.

There has been much speculation that their conversations likely revolved around any damaging information Maxwell may have had about Trump. It is reported that Maxwell told Blanche that she never saw Trump do anything of concern with his friend, Epstein.

Public approval of Donald Trump’s presidency has dropped by 6 percentage points since April, and his approval rating is now 20 points underwater, 38-58, according to a new national University of Massachusetts Amherst Poll of 1,000 respondents conducted July 25-30.

“Six months into his second term as president, Donald Trump looks to be on the ropes with the American public,” says Tatishe Nteta, provost professor of political science at UMass Amherst and director of the poll.

“Trump’s approval ratings, already historically low for a newly elected president, continue to sink, with close to 6-in-10 Americans (58%) expressing disapproval of the job that Trump is doing in office.

“While Trump remains a popular figure among Republicans and conservatives, Trump’s time in office is viewed more negatively across genders, generations, classes, and races, with majorities of each of these groups disapproving of Trump’s performance.

“With over three years left in the Trump administration, there is still time for him to right the ship and fulfill the promises that catapulted him to the presidency, but the president is not off to the start he or his supporters envisioned.”

On specific issues, Trump’s performance, rated on a percentage approve to disapprove, is as follows:

• Inflation: 31-63 (33-62 April 2025)

• Immigration: 41-54 (50-46 April 2025)

• Jobs: 37-55 (38-53 April 2025)

• Civil Rights: 32-58 (36-53 April 2025)

• Tariffs: 31-63 (Not asked in April 2025)

• Natural Disasters: 37-53 (Not asked in April 2025)

Of all issues surveyed in the latest University of Massachusetts Amherst Poll, one appears to be the greatest drag on Trump’s presidency: Jeffrey Epstein and Trump’s handling of the evidence gathered in the federal investigation of the accused sex trafficker and his long-time friend.

Some 63 percent of respondents believe the Trump administration is hiding information about the case, and 59 percent believe a special prosecutor should be appointed to investigate the Justice Department’s handling of the case.

Most alarmingly for Trump, 81 percent of respondents believe he is personally responsible for hiding information about the investigation into Epstein.

The Trump administration pressed for the release of a highly classified document concerning Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, following an intense internal dispute over its secrecy. The struggle concluded in late July when Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard unveiled a minimally redacted version of the report, sources familiar with the matter told The Washington Post.

Gabbard, with the explicit approval of President Donald Trump, reportedly overruled objections from the CIA and other intelligence agencies. These agencies had argued that more of the document should remain classified to safeguard U.S. spy agencies’ sources and methods, as stated by individuals who spoke anonymously due to the sensitivity of the issue.

Nevertheless, Gabbard, alongside CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Attorney General Pam Bondi, released a series of intelligence and law enforcement reports. They assert, without providing evidence, that the intelligence agencies’ finding – that Moscow intervened in the 2016 presidential contest to aid Trump – is a “hoax” orchestrated by the Obama administration.

Since then, the Justice Department has initiated a criminal investigation into Obama-era officials, and Bondi has ordered for a grand jury to potentially hear evidence in the case.

However, multiple independent reviews, including a comprehensive bipartisan inquiry by the Senate Intelligence Committee, have concluded that Vladimir Putin’s government did intervene, partly to assist Trump. Two former CIA officials who led the original intelligence assessment have stood by their sourcing and analysis, as reported to the Post.