Musk’s Major Allegation Against Trump Disappears From Social Media: ‘That Post Has Been Deleted’

Amid President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s bitter online war of words, key posts have been deleted from social media.

The most divisive post from Musk alleged that Trump is listed in the files related to the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and that this is why they have not been fully released to the public.

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Musk made the allegation on Thursday, in a post shared on his social media platform, X (formerly Twitter). 

But as of early Saturday morning, Musk’s Epstein-related post was no longer showing, with X users instead receiving a notice that reads: “Sorry, that post has been deleted.”

And it’s not the only post of Musk’s that has been deleted. Another inflammatory post from Thursday, which saw Musk respond “yes,” endorsing a message that said “Trump should be impeached” and that Vance “should replace him,” is also no longer viewable on X.

The deleted posts suggest that the explosive feud between Trump and his one-time ally could be thawing.

Read More: Where Things Stand With the Epstein Files Following Musk’s Allegation Against Trump

Musk’s original posts came as Trump also lobbed insults and threatened to take away government funding and contracts related to billionaire Musk’s Space X company.

Although things appear, for now, to be simmering down, Trump has made it clear he does not have plans to reconcile with Musk.

When asked on Friday night by reporters if he intends to speak with Musk—who until recently lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—the President gave a clear response.

“No I don’t have plans… I’m not even thinking about it,” Trump said on Air Force One. “I’m not really interested in that, I’m really interested in the country, and solving problems.”

However, when asked if he plans to take back the symbolic White House key that he gifted to Musk, Trump said that he has no intention of doing that.

“I don’t take things back, I gave him a key, he tried very hard,” the President told reporters, praising the efforts of DOGE.

Read More: J.D. Vance Speaks Out After He’s Dragged Into Explosive Row Between Trump and Musk

Trump also appeared to defend Musk against the New York Times’ reported allegations that the Tesla CEO regularly consumed ketamine, ecstasy, and psychedelic mushrooms when traveling with Trump on the campaign trail in 2024.

“I don’t want to comment on his drug use. I don’t know what his status is,” Trump said, when asked by reporters if he had concerns. “I read an article in the New York Times. I thought it was, frankly, it sounded very unfair to me.”

Trump’s Air Force One remarks, issued late on Friday, came hours after he told ABC News that Musk had “lost his mind.”

Meanwhile, although Musk’s Epstein-related allegation against Trump has since been deleted, the impact of the initial post continues to be felt.

The allegation spurred Democrats to chase the full unsealing of the Epstein files, prompting prominent lawmakers to sign a letter, accompanied by a press release titled “Is Trump Suppressing The Epstein Files?”

Trump’s connection to Epstein dates back decades. In a 2002 interview with New York magazine, he famously said that Epstein was “a lot of fun to be with.”

In July 2019, NBC News’ TODAY released unearthed video footage believed to be from 1992, which showed Trump hosting Epstein at his Mar-a-Lago estate.

But after Epstein’s 2019 arrest on federal sex trafficking charges, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office: “I had a falling out with him [Epstein]. I haven’t spoken to him in 15 years. I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you.”

source https://time.com/7291898/elon-musk-donald-trump-epstein-files-allegation-deleted-post/

Ballerina Is a Worthy Addition to the John Wick Franchise

Don’t be misled by the title Ballerina: there’s very little traditional ballet in this John Wick spinoff, and frankly, it could use more. But this fifth installment in the Wick franchise does feature plenty of balletic violence, perhaps the next best thing to actual dancing. You begin to wonder how any fight choreographer could come up with so many variations on the classic roundhouse kick, so many ruthlessly clever chokeholds, such a kaleidoscopic menu of eye gouging, arm-breaking, and flamethrowing. The pleasures of Ballerina are both blunt and fleeting; you’re not going to remember the plot—or any of the performances, perhaps save one—five minutes after the end credits role. But the picture’s cartoonish brutality is cathartic. Feeling angry enough to bust some balls, literally, but don’t want to cause undue harm and/or get arrested? Ballerina is your movie. Let Ana de Armas crack those nuts for you.

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The movie opens, classically and predicatably, with backstory: we see a young girl with a bloodied face clutching a dome-shaped music box with a twirling ballerina figure inside, its surface smeared with bloody fingerprints. We learn that her father gave her this little trinket, not long before he was killed by a mini-army of highly skilled thugs. Somehow, this newly minted orphan manages to escape their vengeance. Thanks to the intervention of Ian McShane’s scary but principled Winston, she’ll be raised by a chilly mother figure and ballet instructor known only as The Director, played, in a fetching array of gold-embossed shawls and velvety kimonos, by Angelica Huston. The Director also happens to be the bloody mama of the secret crime syndicate the Ruska Roma—the very organization whose clutches John Wick is seeking to escape. (If you’re keeping track, the events of Ballerina take place between John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum and John Wick: Chapter 4.)

Read more: The Best Movies of 2025 So Far

The heartbroken little girl with the ballerina music box will grow up to be Ana de Armas’ Eve Macarro, a young woman bent on—what else?—avenging her father’s murder. The ultra-simple plot mechanics of Ballerina are perhaps one reason de Armas—so delightfully flirty and kick-ass as a Bond accomplice in No Time to Die and so disappointing, through no fault of her own, in Andrew Dominik’s Marilyn Monroe exploitation-fest Blonde—doesn’t really resonate here as a performer. She’s a little like that ballerina under the dome: graceful, tenacious, but ultimately more decorative than interesting. The movie’s blunt “You killed my father”-centric dialogue, characteristically laconic in the John Wick tradition, doesn’t help. But de Armas has got the moves, and she’s adequately dazzling in a scene where she slinks into a polar-themed nightclub to protect the ditzy daughter of some rich muckety-muck. Nobody can crotch-kick a dude like she can, particularly in a svelte sequined dress.

Even if de Armas is the star of this show, there’s just enough Keanu Reeves to remind you what franchise you’re watching. He appears in just a few scenes, but his somber-funny Zen presence is a welcome relief from Eve’s somewhat boring intensity. Gabriel Byrne shows up as a nasty villain known as the Chancellor, who has kidnaped the adorable moppet Ella (Ava Joyce McCarthy) and whisked her off to a bucolic Alpine village where a society of ruthless killers are able to raise, and train, their children in peace. Ballerina also includes a lost-sibling subplot that feels like an afterthought—but again, who’s going to remember, or care?

Because really, Ballerina is a stunt-person-employment extravaganza. There’s no way to count how many tireless individuals get stabbed, stomped, thrown against walls, or blitzed with automatic weapons. From the movie’s end credits, it appears that most of these trained professionals were hired locally in the movie’s European filming locations, which include Austria, Hungary, Croatia, and the Czech Republic. Hollywood films, as we know, are increasingly being made pretty much anywhere but Hollywood—but that doesn’t detract from the reality that all over the world, there are skilled pros who are eager to let themselves be set on fire, or worse.

Ballerina’s director is Len Wiseman, one of the creators of the Underworld franchise, as well as the director of the fourth Die Hard movie, Live Free or Die Hard, from 2007. Here, he fulfills at least one basic filmmaking directive: Ballerina is never boring. And its attention to detail, particularly in its costumes, is admirable. Many of the operatives and assassins wear fantastic costume jewels—masses of chains, chunky heart pendants—though none are more opulent, in that grand, phoney-baloney movie-magic way, than the stacks of enameled bangles and ropes of beads worn by Houston’s Ruska Roma matriarch; clearly, she’s mastered the art of plugging “Chico’s necklace” into the eBay search engine. Whether we articulate it or not, this is the sort of thing we go to the movies for: larger-than-life faces, don’t-try-this-at-home stunts, costumes that signal, in smart visual shorthand, a character’s essence. That’s what the dance is all about, with hopefully not too many bruised ribs, smashed noses, or broken bones along the way.

source https://time.com/7291664/ballerina-review-john-wick/

A Spoiler-Filled Breakdown of Ballerina’s Connection to John Wick

Warning: Spoilers ahead for From the World of John Wick: Ballerina

Before you see From the World of John Wick: Ballerina, in theaters now, it’s worth catching up with the Keanu Reeves-led John Wick franchise. But for those who don’t have time to watch the nearly nine hours of the action series, which begins with the titular hitman going on a killing spree over the murder of his beloved dog, don’t worry. We’re here to help you understand Ballerina’s connection to the John Wick universe.

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Ballerina, the fifth film in the John Wick series, is a thrilling spin-off starring Ana de Armas as Eve Macarro, a ballet dancer-turned-assassin who, like John Wick, is a student of the crime organization known as Ruska Roma. (More on them later.) After learning of her family’s secret connection to a cult-like army of killers, Eve embarks on a mission to get back at the Chancellor, the group’s megalomaniacal leader, played by John Wick newbie Gabriel Byrne, who is responsible for killing her father when she was just a kid.

The Ballerina trailer revealed that the Baba Yaga himself, John Wick, plays a role in Eve’s quest for retribution. But is he a friend or a foe? For those who don’t care about spoilers, here’s a breakdown of how John Wick fits into the Ballerina story.

When does Ballerina take place? 

Much of Ballerina takes place at the same time as the 2019 film John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum. That film begins with John Wick being deemed “excommunicado” by the High Table, a formidable 12-person council that governs the most powerful underground crime organizations, for killing one of their members at the New York Continental, a luxury hotel that acts as neutral ground for hitmen and women. A very big no-no in this world where breaking the rules comes with very steep consequences. 

With a major bounty on his head, John Wick finds himself fighting for his life with whatever weapons he can get his hands on: a knife, a gun, some horses, and, most notably, a New York Public Library book. It is him against the world and he knows he’s running out of time. (Tick-tock Mr. Wick, tick-tock.) In order to survive, he’ll need to act quick. So he returns to where it all began: the Tarkovsky Theater, the Ruska Roma’s secret NYC headquarters, in hopes that the Director (Anjelica Huston, who reprises her role in Ballerina) will grant him one last favor. 

Who are the Ruska Roma? 

In John Wick, the Ruska Roma are one of the criminal organizations that have a seat at the High Table. The operation, made up of Belarusian contract killers, runs a ballet academy that is a front for their assassin training facility. The Director, the head of the Ruska Roma, took John Wick in when he was a young orphan and trained him to be a fighter that is light on his feet. She quickly became a mentor and a surrogate mother to the boy then known as Jardani Jovonovich.

While John Wick would become one of the most feared assassins the High Table’s ever seen, he was also a gun-for-hire for a different crime family, the Tarasov Mob. But he is still a member of the Ruska Roma; his tattoo of the Cross of Lorraine, the Ruska Roma’s emblem which is used by the Russian Orthodox Church, proves that. He hopes that his past service is enough to convince her to officially release him from duty. Even if that means she’ll face the ire of the High Table. 

The Director reluctantly frees him, but not without letting him know that by forsaking his connection to the Ruska Roma, he can no longer come to them for help. He will have to go it alone. Though as anyone who’s seen John Wick: Chapter 4 already knows, even in this hyper-violent world, you can always come home. 

What is Eve’s connection to John Wick? 

Ballerina visits the same moment from Parabellum in which John Wick comes to the Director looking for help from, this time through a different lens.

Like John Wick, Eve was adopted by the Ruska Roma after the death of her father. In Ballerina, we learn that it was actually John Wick favorite, New York Continental manager Winston Scott (Ian McShane), who helped spearhead her adoption by the organization. This seems to confirm that Winston’s cross tattoo, which pops up in John Wick: Chapter 4, was a sign of his deeper affiliation to the group. Though, it probably puts to rest the rumor that he was John Wick’s biological father. (Eve has a few meaningful tattoos as well, which are on full display throughout Ballerina.)

Eve is no prima ballerina so she’s made it her mission to become a consummate killer. Specifically, one that is as prolific as John Wick. When the two meet at the theater, Eve is still a trainee trying to break into the contract killer business. She’s looking for pointers from the best to ever do it, but at that point, John Wick is more than done with the assassin’s life. Only months earlier, he was living the retired life and would have continued doing so if that group of Russian gangsters didn’t kill the puppy his late wife gave him. When Eve asks him how she can become an expert killer, his advice is simple: “Don’t.” He tells her to walk out the door of the theater and leave the assassin’s life behind. He suggests she forge a new path for herself before it’s too late. 

It’s good advice, but not even John Wick takes it since Parabellum was far from the end of his hero’s journey. (And apparently, John Wick: Chapter 4 won’t mark the official end of the character either.) But Eve’s Rashomon moment sets her up for her own Wickian adventure, complete with a fierce wardrobe of expertly tailored tactical suits. Eve must learn the hard way that her decisions have consequences, deadly ones.

How does Ballerina end?

With a visit from Mr. Wick, of course. In the final act of Ballerina, Eve goes looking for the man who killed her father: the Chancellor (Gabriel Byrne), the leader of a cult-like community of assassins. But this isn’t just business, this is personal for Eve. The Chancellor, we learn, is her maternal grandfather. Eve’s father was trying to take her away from the life she was born into, and the Chancellor killed him. Unlike John Wick, the Chancellor believes there are no choices, only fate. He believes that Eve is meant to follow in her family’s bloody footsteps and he’ll do anything to bring her back into the fold—even kill her.

For decades, the Chancellor and his followers have lived in the remote Austrian mountain village of Hallstatt. Eve goes there looking to end the Chancellor’s life, but to do so, she must take on the entire town of trained killers by herself, using everything from ice skates to katana swords to flamethrowers to beat them. Eve’s unsanctioned act of vengeance does not go over well with the Director, who chooses to help the Chancellor in order to protect herself and the Ruska Roma. In Parabellum, the Director makes it clear that she is not that interested in the one, but the whole. So whether it’s John Wick or Eve, she’s willing to give them up in order to keep the Ruska Roma alive. But to take down Eve, she’ll need to call in the big guns: the recently excommunicated John Wick. 

The finale of Ballerina takes place after the events of Parabellum, but prior to the start of Chapter 4. In the final moments of Parabellum, Winston shoots John Wick in order to save himself and the Continental. John Wick somehow survives not only the bullet, but a fall off a skyscraper. He is still on the run from the High Table and every one else who is interested in his nearly $20 million bounty.

While there is a question as to why John Wick would bother helping the Ruska Roma at this point in his story, the rules of the High Table are clear: if you’re given a name, you must take care of them. So John Wick arrives in Hallstatt on a side quest to kill Eve, only to discover that they’ve met before. Less than a year after their clandestine chat, neither has managed to get out of the assassin business. The two face off because they have no other choice, but John Wick decides to let her live, though not without a warning about the rules and consequences in this life they’ve chosen. He gives her until the stroke of midnight to kill the Chancellor and get out of town. After all, how could John Wick really keep someone from avenging a loved one?

But John Wick doesn’t just give her more time. He chooses to help Eve with her mission. He becomes her guardian angel. With a sniper rifle, he fends off a flame thrower-wielding assassin who has Eve cornered before taking down a team of trained killers on his own. Only then is she able to get to the Chancellor before time runs out. Like John Wick, Eve couldn’t do this alone.  She needed a helping hand and a little luck to complete her ultimate task. And as he’s done so many times before, John Wick makes the choice that he knows he could stand behind. 

As delicious as it is to watch Eve take down her maniacal grandpa and his Bavarian town of psycho killers in an adrenaline pumping, hilarious scene, there is something even sweeter in watching John Wick tell the Director, “It’s done,” only to let her know that he didn’t complete his mission, but Eve sure did. It’s another friendly reminder that this is John Wick’s world and we’re all just living in it.

source https://time.com/7291230/john-wick-ballerina-ending/

The L.A. Wildfires Redefined Senior Year for These Students

Students at John Muir High School in Pasadena were unfazed when the Eaton fire first began burning in the nearby San Gabriel mountains on January 7. 

“I remember going to school that day. It was really windy, and the power went out, and we were all laughing about it, because we didn’t know how serious it was going to be. We just thought it was like any other windstorm at that time of year,” says Heavyn Harmon, a senior at Muir whose family lost their Altadena home in the fire. 

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It’s not surprising that kids growing up in the fire-prone state of California might feel so blasé. Wildfires, the smokey skies and blazing flames, have always been a natural part of the state’s environment. But in recent decades, climate change has created warmer, drier conditions that are increasing the frequency of wildfires and lengthening the season. Since the state began recording fire data in 1932, 18 of the 20 most destructive fires occurred in the beginning of this century.

“Since I was little, it was like, school’s closed today, there’s a forest fire up in the hills, or an alarm goes off on your phone and there’s a fire,” says Ryan Carpenter, a senior at Palisades Charter School, often referred to as Pali High. Carpenter’s family lived right next to the evacuation line for the coinciding Palisades fire, and they hosted around 20 people in the days after the fires. “After getting used to those smaller tragedies, which felt so big, to then have to cope and deal with a fire on the scale of the Palisades… it’s just devastating.”

The Eaton and Palisades fires that burned through Los Angeles at the start of this year destroyed more than 11,500 homes—making it one of the costliest disasters in U.S. history. While the fires would have happened without climate change, research shows that rising global temperatures made the fires more intense.

The fires also devastated communities, scattering thousands of families across California and beyond. For graduating high school seniors who were attending school in Altadena and Pacific Palisades, senior year was a very different experience from what they might have once imagined. 

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The flames that licked through the football fields and tennis courts at Pali High devoured touchstones of an iconic campus—featured in films like Carrie and Freaky Friday. Movie fans may lament the cinematic loss. But for the students, they just miss the mundane moments of getting to connect with each other—hanging out in a favorite teacher’s classroom or meeting up with friends in the Palisades Village after school.

Read more: L.A. Fires Show the Reality of Living in a World with 1.5°C of Warming

“I really ended up missing where my friends used to eat lunch every day and walking through the hallways and going up to the village to get a snack after school, and I was really sad that I wouldn’t be able to do those things again,” says Carpenter. “I know it sounds a little bit cheesy, but I didn’t even realize how much that meant until I wasn’t able to do it again.”

After 30% of Pali High was destroyed by the Palisades fire, students spent a few months learning remotely online. For students at Muir, school was cancelled for over three weeks, reopening at the end of January when environmental testing determined there were no air contaminants lingering from wildfire debris.

In April, Pali High reopened in an abandoned Sears department store in Santa Monica. None of the classrooms have doors, and some lack windows. But students say they didn’t mind the kinks—they were just happy to be back with their community. 

“It was nice to see everyone and be in real classrooms,” says Avery Waxman-Lee, a senior at Pali. While neither of her parents lost their homes, the disruption was destabilizing all the same. “There were a good amount of people I hadn’t seen since the fires.”

Thousands displaced by the Eaton and Palisades fires have now spread to 365 counties across 39 states, according to change of address records analyzed by the New York Times. Students that relocated further away either continued classes online or transferred schools.

Many seniors tried their best to stay with their graduating classes. But still, there were too many empty seats when they returned to in-person classes. “A lot of people were missing,” says Anneliese Airitam, a senior at Muir who graduated a semester early. “Many people that I know have lost their homes. So everyone was really just scattered. The mood coming back to school was very somber.” When the fire first broke out, Airitam moved in with her grandmother in Corona, a town 45 miles southeast of Los Angeles, and commuted an hour and a half to school. Airitam’s home survived the Eaton fire, but sustained smoke and fire damage, and much of their neighborhood has been destroyed. Now she’s staying in an apartment in Alhambra with her mom indefinitely. 

Around 175 John Muir students and 16 staff members lost their homes in the Eaton fires, according to the L.A. Times. For Harmon, one of the bright spots was getting to plan her prom as class president—a moment where her classmates were able to come together and enjoy themselves. Their prom tickets were paid for by actor Steve Carell, and the charity Alice’s Kids, and the community came together to provide students with hair and makeup appointments. Harmon says the fires have made them more appreciative of the little moments—especially as many of her classmates are still grieving their losses. 

“I still have conversations with a lot of people crying, experiencing the anger, the confusion of just like, ‘Why did this have to happen to so many of us at the same time?’ The only way we’re kind of getting through it is being with each other and speaking to each other, because we all have an understanding of the pain that we’re going through,” says Harmon. “We’ve been trying to make the most of every celebratory moment, because we know how suddenly things can change.” 

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Though many students planned to move away from home for college, some are now wondering what the transition might look like when they can’t return to their hometowns. 

Harmon always knew she wanted to move out of state for college, but she couldn’t help but worry she might miss home. “I was planning on leaving California for college, but then in the back of my mind, when we still had our house, I was like, man I don’t want to leave home,” says Harmon. “When our house got taken away, it kind of solidified [my decision] to branch out and experience something new.”

Growing up as the youngest of five, Brigitte Appelbaum-Schwartz always felt at home in the Palisades. “I feel like everyone in the community kind of knew my family, and wherever I went, everyone would be like, oh, like, you’re an Appelbaum. It felt like I belonged there, and like people really knew me,” she says. Their family home burned down in the fire, and she’s now finishing off the school year from a rental in Santa Monica. “So it’s a little weird to be outside of that and to be in a community now, where people don’t really know me, and where I feel a little more out of place.”

Her parents plan to relocate to Maine after she graduates, a move they were already toying with before the fires made the decision for them. They don’t know yet if the move will be permanent—most of Appelbaum-Schwartz’s extended family lives in the L.A. area, but it’s hard to plan for a future return when it’s too soon to tell what rebuilding in the Palisades might look like. “I already would have been moving away [from California]… but there’s a lot more uncertainty when I don’t have a permanent home to come back to anymore,” Appelbaum-Schwartz says. In the fall, she’ll be moving to Boston for college.

Many people in her community don’t know what will come next. For the families who own the scorched land where their house once stood, insurance companies often won’t cover the full cost of rebuilding, and past natural disasters show that rebuilding after a fire can take years. They’re now jostling with displaced renters for limited stock in an overtaxed rental market—L.A. was already experiencing a severe housing shortage before the fires.

Harmon’s family had lived in the same house in Altadena for 57 years, down the street from her high school. After the fire, she made the decision to graduate early. Her family has been hopping from Airbnb to Airbnb, and it pained her to think about returning to school so close to her old home. “I was so close to walking home, I knew for me it was going to be hard to handle it,” she says.

When she returned to Altadena for the first time in the middle of January, it was hard to believe what she was seeing had once been her home. The frame of their porch was still intact, as was the barbecue pit, but everything else was unerecognizable. “I had never, ever imagined seeing the walls on the floor,” she says. 

Harmon is moving to Texas for college, and her mom plans to move with her. Nothing will beat growing up in Altadena, but in some ways, like graduating seniors everywhere, she’s ready for a fresh start. 

“I’m going to miss my community, but I know I’m carrying my community with me in my heart, wherever I go. The values I’ve been taught, the love I’ve been given. I feel blessed to have grown up in Altadena, and I’m ready to spread that to a new community,” she says. But moving on from your hometown is more bittersweet when it’s the only choice you have. “I’m excited to go to Texas. I feel like I need a new experience away from Altadena because I have nothing to go back to.”

source https://time.com/7288913/la-wildfires-redifined-senior-year-high-school/

Trump Orders Investigation Into Biden and His Aides. Here’s What to Know

President Donald Trump has ordered an investigation into former President Joe Biden and his aides, accusing the latter of concealing Biden’s “serious cognitive decline” and abusing the power of Presidential signatures.

In a memorandum issued on Wednesday night—addressed to the Attorney General, the Counsel for President—Trump said “it has become increasingly apparent that former President Biden’s aides abused the power of Presidential signatures through the use of an autopen,” describing it as one of the “most dangerous” scandals in U.S. history.

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Biden referred to the claims as “ridiculous and false” in a statement issued following Trump’s announcement.

Within his presidential memoranda, Trump claims that aides of the former President used his signature, which was “deployed across thousands of documents to effect radical policy shifts.” He further alleges that the Department of Justice has found “clear evidence” that Biden broke the law, but that he could not stand trial due to “his incompetent mental state.”

“The White House issued over 1,200 Presidential documents, appointed 235 judges to the Federal bench, and issued more pardons and commutations than any administration in United States history,” Trump said in the memo. “Although the authority to take these executive actions, along with many others, is constitutionally committed to the President, there are serious doubts as to the decision making process and even the degree of Biden’s awareness of these actions being taken in his name.”

The investigation comes after Trump re-posted a baseless claim via Truth Social, sharing a post which said Biden had been “executed in 2020” and replaced by a robotic clone.

Trump has also claimed that throughout Biden’s presidency, advisers “severely restricted his news conferences and media appearances, and they scripted his conversations with lawmakers, government officials, and donors, all to cover up his inability to discharge his duties.”

According to Trump, what will the investigation aim to address?

Per the memorandum, the investigation will look for evidence of any activity conducted “to purposefully shield the public from information regarding Biden’s mental and physical health,” as well as evidence of any agreements amongst aides to “require false, public statements elevating the President’s capabilities.”

The investigation has also asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to look at “circumstances surrounding Biden’s supposed execution of numerous executive actions during his final years in office.”

This will look into what documents were signed using autopen and who authorized this use for clemency grants, Executive Orders, memoranda, and other policy decisions made by Biden.

What is the controversy surrounding autopen signatures?

As part of Trump’s investigation order, he accuses Biden aides of abusing the use of an autopen to sign official documents such as Executive Orders, and claims this was done to conceal Biden’s “incapacity.”

In March, Trump made a claim on Truth Social that pardons issued by Biden for members of the house select committee who investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots were “void and vacant,” as an autopen was used to sign them.

On Wednesday, before publishing his memorandum, Trump said via social media: “With the exception of the rigged presidential election of 2020 the autopen is the biggest political scandal in American history.”

Autopens have long been used by Presidents throughout U.S. history. It’s thought they were first used by Thomas Jefferson after the device was patented in 1803. Whilst the autopen has evolved over the last 200 years, it has been used by other Presidents including Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson during their time in the Oval Office

Trump himself has admitted to using an autopen. When asked by NBC in March if he has used the device, Trump replied: “Only for very unimportant papers, and I don’t call them unimportant… where people write in and they’d love to have a response. When the reporter attempted a further question, Trump replied: “I don’t want to speak to NBC anymore.” 

In 2005, at the request of former President George W. Bush, a memorandum opinion was published regarding whether the President may sign a bill by directing that his signature be affixed to it. The opinion found that “if a White House aide were to sign his own name to a bill, that bill would not thereby become law. By contrast, the President’s directive to an aide to affix the President’s signature to a bill does not involve a delegation of authority.”

In conclusion, “the President need not personally perform the physical act of affixing his signature to a bill he approves and decides to sign in order for the bill to become law.”

How has Biden responded to the allegations?

The former President has responded to Trump’s claims of presidential power abuse and his declining cognitive state during his time in office. In a statement, Biden said: “Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false.”

He continued: “This is nothing more than a distraction by Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans who are working to push disastrous legislation that would cut essential programs like Medicaid and raise costs on American families, all to pay for tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy and big corporations.”

Biden was seemingly referring to Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill,” which is currently under consideration by Senators after being passed in the House of Representatives last month. However, it’s facing significant criticism, as Trump ally Elon Musk, who until recently served as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has called it “outrageous, pork-filled” and a “disgusting abomination.”

The allegations put forward by Trump come a couple of weeks after Biden announced he has been diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer. Trump initially sent his best wishes to Biden after the news, but he soon went on to make claims that the diagnosis had been concealed. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said: “There are things going on that the public wasn’t informed, and I think somebody is going to have to speak to his doctor.”

Vice President J.D. Vance issued a similar response. While travelling on Air Force One, he said to reporters: “Why didn’t the American people have a better sense of his health picture? Why didn’t the American people have more accurate information about what he was actually dealing with?”

Concerns over Biden’s cognitive fitness and age—by the end of his term, he was 82 years old—have long been a talking point. In February 2024, Biden’s White House physician declared that he was “fit for duty and fully executes all of his responsibilities without without any exemptions or accommodations.”

However, concerns only grew as the presidential race kicked into gear, and Biden was heavily scrutinized after the first presidential debate with Trump in June 2024, which saw the Democratic leader stumble over his words and seemingly lose his trail of thought. He later admitted to having had “a bad night.”

After the debate, there was an increase in calls and pressure for him to drop out of the race, and Biden withdrew his candidacy in late July, before endorsing then-Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him.

source https://time.com/7291354/trump-orders-investigation-into-biden-and-aides/

Hajj Begins With World’s Largest Air Conditioner, Surveillance Drones, and a Ban on Children

Saudi Arabia has announced drastic changes for the 2025 Hajj pilgrimage that begins today, including new rules prohibiting children from accompanying pilgrims, and prioritizing pilgrims traveling for the first time. The changes represent the most significant transformation of pilgrimage access in modern history.

The Hajj, one of the five pillars, or obligations, of Islam, draws about two million Muslims annually to Saudi Arabia to complete the spiritual journey that every mature, able-bodied Muslim is required to undertake at least once in their lifetime. Once a desert journey guided by revelation, the Hajj has become a logistical marvel, and the new policies mark some of the most significant shifts in its 1,400-year history. 

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The pilgrimage involves a series of rituals over several days, including circling the Ka’ba in Mecca, standing in prayer at Mount Arafat, and acts of devotion that trace the footsteps of the Prophet Abraham and his family. “ Hajj represents a profound spiritual journey for Muslims,” says Shaykh Waleed Basyouni, the President of AlMaghrib Institute, which hosts its own Hajj program. “It’s a time for reflection, repentance, and a renewal of faith.” 

Children Banned

The most controversial change prohibits children from accompanying their guardians on the pilgrimage. “ People were surprised, shocked,” says Basyouni, who has made the pilgrimage multiple times. 

The Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah cited safety for the decision. In 2024, more than 1,300 people died during the pilgrimage, primarily from extreme heat and overcrowding. But the new policy breaks with centuries of tradition where families often traveled together to fulfill a religious duty.

The minimum age for attendance was unclear, however. Some sources cite 12 years as the cutoff, while others indicate Saudi Arabia has set 15 years as the minimum age. The confusion may be rooted in the variables of personal development: in Muslim legislation anyone who has not reached puberty is considered a child.

Another variable is the weather. Once again this year, the desert pilgrimage coincides with intense summer heat. But because the Islamic calendar shifts about 10 days earlier each year, Hajj will be in the winter from 2034 to 2041 in a natural progression through the seasons over a 33-year cycle.

“ They might put restrictions on children in the summer where Hajj comes during the high season when it’s very hot,” Basyouni says. “But they might change that later on when the weather is much better, because Hajj comes in the lunar calendar.”

First-Time Pilgrims Get Priority

In another major shift, the host kingdom has instituted a system favoring Muslims who have never completed the Hajj. The change addresses long-standing equity concerns within the global Muslim community, where repeat pilgrims from wealthier nations could more easily secure spots than first-time pilgrims from developing countries. Hajj travel packages range from $10,000 to $15,000 per person. 

“ I hope that this is an issue that can be solved,” says Basyouni. “It’s one of the pillars of [our] religion. It’s very hard.  I don’t know of any ritual in the world for any religion that costs that much money.”

AI, A.C. and Access

Watching over this year’s Hajj will be a network of AI-powered drones, with thermal imaging technology that enables authorities to monitor millions of pilgrims in real-time and respond swiftly to potential safety threats. For the first time, the Saudi Civil Defense has introduced the AI-powered “Saqr” ( Falcon) drone, which can identify and intercept unauthorized pilgrims, supporting the kingdom’s “No Hajj Without a Permit” campaign.

In the Grand Mosque, the world’s largest cooling system, with a capacity of 155,000 tons of refrigeration, represents the Saudis’ response to increasingly extreme heat conditions during Hajj. A year ago temperatures soared to 125 degrees Fahrenheit during the annual rites. Other heat mitigation measures for 2025 include expanding shaded areas by 50,000 square meters, deploying over 400 cooling units, and placing thousands of additional medics on standby.

“It gets very hot, so I think [the change] is wonderful,” says Abdul-Malik Merchant, an Imam for the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) in Virginia. Merchant has gone for Hajj seven times, both as a guide and a traveller. He was there in 2015 when a stampede ended the lives of 2,400 travellers, a catastrophic death toll even in a setting with a history of mass casualty events.

Saudi Arabia had also changed its visa policy, limiting travellers from 14 countries—including Pakistan, Iraq and Morocco—to only a single-entry visa. In past years, people with multiple-entry visas would enter the country during the Hajj season and attend without a permit. The duration of a Hajj visa has also been standardized, expiring on the 10th of Muharram, which is July 6th, 2025. Entry to the holy cities has likewise been tightened. Since late April, only holders of those official Hajj visas, valid residency, or authorized personnel were allowed into Makkah. So far this year, 269,000 people stopped from entering the city for a lack of correct permits.

“ Muslim jurists say it is allowed  for the government to put restrictions on some religious rituals,” Basyouni says. During COVID-19, for instance, the Saudi government required that people be vaccinated before performing Hajj during the height of the pandemic in order to protect travellers. The guidelines for any new rule, Basyouni says, is that it must have a clear benefit.

source https://time.com/7291105/hajj-2025-saudi-arabia-new-rules/

Trump Administration Fires 13 Members of Key Education Research Board, Citing ‘Partisan Influence’

The Trump Administration fired all 13 Biden-appointed members of a key federal education research board last month, a move that drew sharp rebuke from former members amid the Administration’s ongoing campaign to dismantle the Department of Education.

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The firings, carried out on May 23, targeted the National Board for Education Sciences (NBES), which Congress established in 2002 to advise the Department of Education’s research arm, the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). The board—whose members include researchers, educators, and civic leaders—had been tasked with shaping the Department’s $900 million research agenda, including approving priorities, overseeing peer-reviewed grants, and advising on efforts to close achievement gaps across race, income, and disability status. The future of that work is now unclear, as the new Administration has slashed much of that spending.

The dismissals are the latest blow to a board that has struggled for more than a decade to maintain its statutory role. For much of President Donald Trump’s first term, he did not appoint enough members to NBES to fill the 15-member board. They didn’t hold any meetings over those four years, according to the board’s web page.

“We can confirm that the Department fired thirteen Biden appointees to the National Board for Education Sciences on May 23,” said Madi Biedermann, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Communications under Education Secretary Linda McMahon, in a statement to TIME. “One of the core duties of a board member is to ensure that activities are objective, nonideological, and free of partisan influence—they failed.”

Biedermann cited poor student outcomes, excessive spending on research contracts, and the alleged politicization of federal research as justification for the purge. She said new appointees will be announced to “drive forward President Trump and Secretary McMahon’s vision” for education reform, which emphasizes decentralization and a sharp reduction in the federal government’s role.

“As reflected in the dismal results of the recent Nation’s Report Card, these board members stood by as student outcomes declined nationwide, oversaw research contracts that took gross advantage of the American taxpayer without delivering improvements in teaching and learning, and allowed partisan ideologies to seep into taxpayer-funded research and development,” Biedermann said.

But former board members and education advocates say the firings are part of a broader and deeply political effort to discredit scientific research and roll back protections for vulnerable student populations.

Shaun Harper, a University of Southern California professor who was among those dismissed, said he wasn’t surprised by the Trump Administration’s decision but disagreed with how they have characterized the board’s work. “We committed to spending four years in the unpaid role because we all want the best for our democracy,” he wrote in an op-ed for TIME published Wednesday. “We approached our work as experts, not as politically-polarizing activists who somehow sought to advance anti-American agendas.”

“Without knowing or even asking what this entailed, it is possible that the Trump Administration presumed this to be a hotbed of DEI activities that privileged wokeness over merit,” he added. “I never participated in nor witnessed this. There is no evidence of such wrongdoing.”

The Trump Administration has made no secret of its disdain for the Department of Education itself. Trump has vowed repeatedly to abolish the agency, though a recent federal court ruling temporarily blocked his executive order aimed at doing just that. Judge Myong J. Joun of the U.S. District Court in Massachusetts issued a preliminary injunction ordering the reinstatement of thousands of department employees fired as part of the Administration’s downsizing campaign.

In testimony before Congress, Education Secretary McMahon acknowledged that as many as three-fourths of the roughly 2,000 staff members who had been fired at the agency had been dismissed under restructuring efforts led by Elon Musk, who formerly led the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. 

The NBES firings come amid mounting concern over the future of the Institute of Education Sciences itself. According to department employees and internal emails reviewed by NPR, many IES contracts were canceled within the first two months of Trump’s second term. These include long-term studies on math interventions, data collection on homeschooling, and surveys related to private education and career training. One canceled program had already been deployed in classrooms across multiple states.

Founded under President George W. Bush as part of the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002, the IES and its advisory board were created to bring scientific rigor to the education field. The NBES in particular was tasked with ensuring that federal education research is objective, equitable, and informed by practitioners and scientists alike.

Harper warned of the long-term implications of terminating members of the board without replacements: “Consequently, students with disabilities will be even more underserved. Inequities between rich and poor, as well as white and racially diverse learners, will widen. Congress and educational leaders will have even less access to trustworthy, high-quality research on what works.”

source https://time.com/7291039/trump-administration-fires-education-research-board/