Hillary Clinton accuses Republicans of ‘fishing expedition’ in Epstein testimony | First Thing
Former secretary of state says hearing is an attempt to deflect attention from Trump. Plus, the textile artist weaving patterns to inspire the labor movement
Good morning.
Hillary Clinton rebuked a congressional committee investigating her supposed links to Jeffrey Epstein on Thursday, accusing its Republican members of embarking on a “fishing expedition” intended to “distract attention from President Trump’s actions”.
In the opening statement of her testimony to the House of Representatives’ oversight committee, the former secretary of state suggested the event was “partisan political theatre” and “an insult to the American people”, repeating her insistence that she had never met Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex trafficker who died in 2019.
Meanwhile, the Guardian’s Jacqueline Sweet and Joseph Gedeon report that they have reviewed three memos that describe four interviews conducted by the FBI in 2019, containing explicit but unsubstantiated claims that Donald Trump sexually abused a woman when she was a minor in the early 1980s, with the assistance of Epstein. Trump has consistently denied wrongdoing. More on that story here.
How did we get here? The Clintons reluctantly agreed to appear in response to a subpoena from the committee’s Republican chair, James Comer, after being threatened with contempt of Congress charges. Both Clintons have previously complained that they are being singled out unfairly to distract public attention from Trump, who had a long friendship with Epstein before breaking with him.
What happens next? Bill Clinton, a former president, will testify later today, also in a closed-door session.
Democrats in four states seek to bar ICE employees from future civil service jobs
Supercharged by billions in dollars from Congress, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has hired thousands of new officers to carry out Trump’s mass deportation campaign, an effort it has likened to “wartime recruitment”. In several states, Democratic lawmakers want applicants to think twice about taking part.
Bills introduced in recent weeks in the legislatures of at least four Democratic-led states would impose long-term consequences on new ICE employees by making them ineligible for jobs in law enforcement, public education, and, in their most expansive form, the entire state civil service.
What stage are the bills at? None have been signed into law, and they may face legal challenges. The bills, nonetheless, underscore the determination by Democratic state lawmakers in New Jersey, California, Maryland and Washington state, to undermine Trump’s hardline immigration policy.
How did immigration enforcement get so many resources? The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, approved by the Republicans along party lines in Congress, allocated nearly $30bn to hire and train new ICE agents. The agency embarked on a hiring spree that often used xenophobic slogans in recruitment ads, as well as incentives such as signing bonuses as high as $50,000.
Pakistan declares ‘open war’ with Afghanistan after cross-border attacks
Pakistan’s defence minister, Khawaja Mohammad Asif, has declared an “open war” with the Taliban government in Afghanistan, in a major escalation between the neighbouring countries. “Our patience has now run out. Now it is open war between us,” he wrote on X.
Pakistan bombed Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, and two other provinces on Friday, hours after a cross-border attack, in the latest escalation of deadly violence between the volatile neighbours, who signed a Qatar-mediated ceasefire in 2025.
After months of tit-for-tat clashes, Afghan forces attacked Pakistani border troops on Thursday night in what the Taliban government said was retaliation for earlier deadly airstrikes. Hours later, at least three explosions were heard in Kabul, with both sides making different claims about the number of casualties and sites hit.
What do we know about the attacks? Pakistan’s federal minister for information and broadcasting, Attaullah Tarar, claimed the strikes on Friday in Kabul, Paktia, and Kandahar killed 133 Afghan Taliban officials and wounded more than 200, with further casualties possible. Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s defence ministry said 55 Pakistani soldiers had been killed in the border clashes on Thursday.
In other news …
High-stakes talks between the US and Iran over the future of Tehran’s nuclear program ended on Thursday without a deal, as the White House considers a military operation.
The World Economic Forum president and chief executive, Børge Brende, has quit after criticism of his connections to Jeffrey Epstein.
In the UK, the Green party pulled off a victory in a byelection, a significant blow to Keir Starmer’s ruling Labour party, also beating the rightwing anti-immigration party Reform UK.
A Columbia University student arrested and detained by ICE on Thursday was released after Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York City, spoke to Trump
Stat of the day: Netflix walks away from Warner Bros deal, paving way for $111bn Paramount takeover
Netflix has walked away from its planned takeover of Warner Bros Discovery, declining to revise its $82.7bn offer. That means the Ellison family, which owns Paramount Skydance, is expected to acquire the company for $111bn, including the cable news network CNN.
Culture pick: ‘It felt feral!’ The choreographer behind The Testament of Ann Lee’s ecstatic dancing
The Guardian interviewed Celia Rowlson-Hall, the choreographer for The Testament of Ann Lee. It stars Amanda Seyfried as the leader of 18th-century Christian sect the Shakers, whose ecstatic prayer rituals could involve dancing for days. Being an artist, Rowlson-Hall said, needs “a concoction of faith and drive, a little delusion and a lot of energy”.
Don’t miss this: How textile artist Tabitha Arnold weaves the labor movement
The goal of the artist Tabitha Arnold, a socialist and labor organizer based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, is to create work that reflects and inspires organizers and workers. Her recent exhibition, the Gospel of the Working Class, featured tapestries highlighting working-class struggles. “I see it as being a source of encouragement for organizers,” she said.
Climate check: The unbearable experience of walking in a heatwave of the future
Global heating is causing more frequent heatwaves that last longer and bring more heat. At the University of Sydney, the Guardian’s Graham Readfearn put his body to the test in an experiment to see what effects the heatwaves of the future would have on humans. “The sweat is stinging my eyes,” he said.
Last Thing: Dead-end boys and West End girls, Lily Allen’s greatest songs – ranked
Lily Allen’s first album in seven years, 2025’s West End Girl, was a startling autopsy of marital betrayal. The music critic Alexis Petridis went back and ranked the best songs of her career, such as Smile (“musically irresistible”), Pussy Palace (“the gloves really come off”) and The Fear (“wittily nailed the grimness of late-00s celebrity culture”).
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