Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) on Monday demanded answers from Elon Musk about allegations that scam networks in Southeast Asia are using Starlink to facilitate fraud.
The big picture: The senator in her letter cited media, UN and Treasury Department reports saying the satellite-communications network is being misused by transnational criminal groups to scam Americans.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and former Sen. Sherrod Brown met in Ohio this weekend, as Brown weighs a possible comeback bid to flip a GOP Senate seat in the state, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Schumer has lobbied Brown for months to run. Fresh off a major recruiting victory in North Carolina, he wants to expand that luck to Ohio.
A lawyer who is working on a criminal lawsuit in New Jersey seeks to dismiss the case by questioning Alina Habba's legitimacy to lead the U.S. attorney's office in the state.
Why it matters: The lawsuit challenging Habba's legal authority underscores the effects of the Trump administration's unconventional approach of appointing officials who sometimes lack the background or the congressional support necessary to lead key offices.
President Trump's new executive order to combat homelessness encourages local governments to revive civil commitment, a process to place people with mental health issues in treatment facilities without their consent.
Why it matters: Involuntary civil commitment has historically been used as a preventative method to confine people before they harm themselves or others, and most frequently affects vulnerable groups such as LGBTQ+, people of color and people with disabilities, according to several studies.
The big picture: Kennedy, who has repeatedly pushed the debunked idea that vaccines cause autism and in the past was involved in litigation over patient injury claims, has argued in the past that the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) takes away manufacturers' incentive to make vaccines safe.
A federal judge in Massachusetts on Monday ordered the federal government to continue Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood affiliates, writing that the health organization was likely to prevail in a dispute over President Trump's tax-and-spending law.
Why it matters: The order came after U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani last week froze a funding ban in the law for a subset of Planned Parenthood clinics that receive less than $800,000 from Medicaid annually or that don't perform abortions.
A central figure in the Jeffrey Epstein saga is back in the limelight again — his once-girlfriend and associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.
The big picture: As the Trump administration faces weeks of bipartisan backlash over its handling of the Epstein files, many see Maxwell as a potential source of information on the disgraced financier. At the same time, Maxwell has been seeking to overturn her conviction.
President Trump won't rule out pardoning convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, he said Monday.
Why it matters: Trump's comments about Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence, come amid growing bipartisan pressure over his administration's handling of information tied to the Jeffrey Epstein case.
Driving the news: Trump told reporters Monday that he is "allowed" to pardon Maxwell.
"Well, I'm allowed to give her a pardon but nobody's approached me with it, nobody's asked me about it," Trump said. "It's in the news about that—that aspect of it, but right now it would be inappropriate to talk about it," he said.
Trump also said on Friday, "It's something I haven't thought about... I'm allowed to do it, but it's something I have not thought about."
Catch up quick: Maxwell, who was prosecuted for sex trafficking minors with Epstein, was granted "limited" immunity by the Justice Department to answer questions about the child sex trafficking ring that led to her sentence, multipleoutlets reported off anonymous sources.
Maxwell spoke to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche for several hours over two days.
Maxwell's attorney David Markus told ABC News on Friday she was asked about "maybe 100 different people" and "She didn't hold anything back."
"This is not a situation where we are asking for anything in return for testimony or anything like that," Markus said. "Of course, everybody knows Ms. Maxwell would welcome any relief."
What we're watching: Maxwell pressed ahead with an appeal to the Supreme Court to overturn her conviction on Monday.
Maxwell's appeal revolves around a controversial 2007 non-prosecution agreement Epstein negotiated with the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of Florida.
"The United States," the non-prosecution agreement stated, "agrees that it will not institute any criminal charges against any potential co-conspirators of Epstein, including but not limited to" four other suspects.
Maxwell was not listed as one of those suspects, but her lawyers argue she didn't need to be.
Trump is alsochallenging recent reports about his associations with Epstein.
Trump is suing the Wall Street Journal and owner Rupert Murdoch for releasing a report about a "bawdy" birthday letter bearing Trump's name in the book that Maxwell allegedly collated in 2003.
Trump has called the signature a forgery and deniedreports that Attorney General Pam Bondi briefed him about his name appearing in the Epstein files.
President Trump said Monday that he'll soon announce a much shorter deadline for Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine or face heavy sanctions.
There are still 36 days until Trump's previous deadline, set two weeks ago, but he said he'd shorten that to "about 10 to 12 days."
Why it matters: Trump seems ready to take steps against Russia that he'd resisted for six months — potentially dealing a heavy penalty to buyers of Russian oil, notably China and India, in the process.
Ghislaine Maxwell pressed ahead with an appeal to the Supreme Court on Monday, seeking to overturn her conviction on the grounds that she was unlawfully prosecuted for sex trafficking minors with Jeffrey Epstein.
Why it matters: The filing by Maxwell, who was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison in 2022, comes just three days after she met with a top Justice Department official tapped to re-examine the Epstein case.
President Trump said Monday that he never had "the privilege" of traveling to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein's island, emphasizing he "did turn it down."
The big picture: Scrutiny over the administration's handling of the Epstein case has plagued the president in recent weeks, now following him across the pond as he sat for a bilateral meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
CK Hutchinson of Hong Kong on Monday said that it plans to add a "major strategic" Chinese investor to its $22.8 billion ports deal with BlackRock, adding that an exclusive negotiating period between the two firms has expired.
Why it matters: This complicates March's landmark agreement that would transfer control of 43 ports in 23 countries, including two in Panama that President Trump has threatened to retake by force.
Florida is set to surpass a grim milestone on Thursday, when the state will likely execute its ninth person so far this year.
Why it matters: It would mark the state's highest count since the Supreme Court reinstated the ultimate punishment nearly 50 years ago. Lawmakers and Gov. Ron DeSantis have also made it easier to sentence people to death.
In the Trump-dominated global economy, the U.S. gets plenty but gives nothing in return.
Why it matters: This is the reality of the asymmetric trade deals touted by the White House, which show how far foreign leaders will go to safeguard access to the U.S. market.
President Trump's five-day trip to Scotland was met with protests in several Scottish cities over the weekend, as security was bolstered for his visit to the nation.
The big picture: While hundreds protested the president, some supporters greeted him with cries of "we love you!" as he played golf at his Trump Turnberry resort in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire, on Sunday.
