Politics and views in the United States.

Trump is pressed to name a special counsel for the Epstein case. Speaker Mike Johnson urges Senate not to change rescissions bill, and undocumented immigrants are no longer eligible for bond before deportation hearings.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2025 Talks.

We're following our democracy in historic times.

He's dead, he's gone.

And all it is is the Republicans, certain Republicans got duped by the Democrats and they're following a Democrat playbook.

President Donald Trump is doubling down on denials relating to dead billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

He says Attorney General Pam Bondi has his permission to release any documents not protected by secrecy.

Bondi denies the Justice Department is withholding anything incriminating.

When asked if he would appoint special counsel for the case, Trump said it's not his decision.

This comes as Trump has fired Maureen Comey, a prosecutor on the Epstein case and daughter of former FBI Director James Comey.

Polls show most voters disapprove of the president's handling of the case.

Trump appeared seven times on the flight logs of Epstein's private plane, nicknamed the Lolita Express.

House Republicans have repeatedly blocked a Democratic bill forcing Justice to release the Epstein files, but some GOP hardliners now say they'll work with Democrats on the issue.

White Winger Thomas Massey and California Progressive Ro Khanna say they're considering a discharge petition to force a vote.

Meanwhile, the House and Senate are working to pass a budget rescissions bill by Friday.

The legislation would claw back $9 billion appropriated for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in USAID.

Some senators want to cut NPR and PBS, but still want to fund their local public media stations.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson says the bill the House passed shouldn't be changed by the Senate because it addresses low-hanging fruit of taxpayer savings.

You're talking about funding for USAID, the egregious abuses that the DOJ analysis and audits uncovered, we've gotta call that back.

The American people, everybody demands that.

We can't fund transgender operas in Peru with US taxpayer dollars.

The State Department did provide less than $60,000 for an LGBTQ+ opera by an American composer in Columbia and a comic book with a transgender character in Peru, a minuscule fraction of the aid budget.

Pushback from Republican senators looks likely to rescue the PEPFAR anti-AIDS program, credited with saving 25 million lives, mostly in Africa.

The Trump administration is saying illegal immigrants are no longer eligible for a bond hearing while they fight deportation.

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons says illegal immigrants should be detained until their cases are decided, which could take years.

Rosa Santana is with Envision Freedom Fund, the nation's largest immigration bond fund.

Stripping millions of immigrants of their right to a bond hearing is a chilling escalation of this administration's on ending attacks on due process and basic human dignity.

During a Senate confirmation hearing, former National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, discussed what he would do as the US ambassador to the UN.

He faced harsh questions from senators for starting a later leaked signal chat thread, which mistakenly included the editor of the Atlantic Magazine.

Waltz defended his use of signal for discussing military secrets by citing Biden era guidance.

Says here, I'll read it to you.

Use only end-to-end encrypted communications, adopt a free messaging application secure communications that guarantees end-to-end encryption, particularly if you are a highly targeted individual, such as Signal or similar apps.

I'm Edwin J. Vieira for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.