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House, Senate pass bill demanding DOJ release Epstein files. In a 427–1 vote, the House of Representatives passed legislation to force the Justice Department to release all of the files pertaining to the investigation into the deceased child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. House Speaker Mike Johnson and most GOP members had sought to delay a vote but relented after President Trump—a former friend of Epstein’s—dropped his opposition to it. Hours later, the Senate unanimously passed the bill as is, despite Johnson’s hopes that it would be amended. Republican Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana was the lone “no” vote in the House, saying it doesn’t do enough to protect the names of people who might be innocent. The bill now heads to Trump’s desk to be signed.
Meta won its antitrust trial. A US federal judge ruled that the FTC failed to prove that the Facebook parent company’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp constituted an illegal social media monopoly. Initially filed in 2020, the FTC’s suit alleged that Meta’s two blockbuster purchases stifled competition, citing CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s 2008 statement that “it is better to buy than compete.” During his testimony, Zuck denied that Meta acquires competitors that it sees as threats. The ruling is a major win for Meta and a blow to the federal government’s quest across multiple administrations to rein in Big Tech companies. Judges recently ruled that Google operated illegal monopolies in search and advertising, while antitrust cases against Apple and Amazon are pending.
Trump met MBS ahead of expected deals. President Trump hosted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House yesterday for a meeting that was supposed to be about deals between the US and Saudi Arabia, but Trump made headlines when he played down the 2018 murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, whom US intelligence determined was killed at the behest of bin Salman. “Whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen,” Trump said of the murder victim. The president also praised the crown prince’s human rights record, which Amnesty International has characterized as “an unprecedented crackdown on freedom of expression.” Today, Saudi Arabia is set to announce several deals with US companies, including Amazon and xAI, according to Semafor.—AE
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