July 22, 2025: Donald Trump presidency news

First Lady Melania Trump arrives to attend the opening night of "Les Miserables" at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, on June 11.

House Republicans want to name the John F. Kennedy Center’s opera house after first lady Melania Trump.

Republicans included language that would designate the opera house at the center for the performing arts in Washington, DC, as the “First Lady Melania Trump Opera House” in an amendment for a spending bill for the Interior Department.

It’s unclear whether the bill will pass the full House, let alone whether it could make it into a bipartisan agreement with the Senate, so it remains to be seen whether the provision will make it into law. The House is set to recess tomorrow, leaving lawmakers with limited time when they return in September before the government runs out of funding.

During the House Appropriations Committee’s meeting on the bill today, GOP Rep. Mike Simpson — who introduced the amendment — said “yes, we renamed the opera house at the Kennedy Center for the first lady, who is the honorary chairman of the board of trustees of the Kennedy Center.”

He argued that it’s an “excellent way to recognize” Melania Trump’s “support and commitment to promoting the arts.”

The amendment was adopted by the committee, 35-22, with Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez joining with the panel’s Republicans to vote yes.

The first lady’s office did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

CNN’s Betsy Klein contributed reporting to this post.

A lawyer for Jeffrey Epstein’s accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell asked the judge for permission to review the grand jury transcripts the Justice Department has sought to unseal in its investigation.

David Oscar Markus, Maxwell’s attorney, wrote in a letter to the judge:

Maxwell will oppose the release of grand jury material, a person close to her told CNN.

Judge Paul Engelmayer asked the Justice Department to provide him with the grand jury information at issue by next Tuesday. He also said Maxwell’s team has until August 5 to formally state their position on the unsealing of grand jury transcripts.

The judge also asked any victims to state their positions by August 5.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks to the press outside the White House on July 22, in Washington, DC.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said she’s unsure if anyone at the White House has spoken to Speaker Mike Johnson about the decision to cancel votes and leave a day early for August recess, effectively blocking a push to force a vote on releasing more Jeffrey Epstein files.

“As you know, we’re always in pretty good communication with the speaker of the House, but the president himself has said that if the Department of Justice has credible evidence they should release it,” Leavitt told CNN’s Kristen Holmes.

Leavitt briefly gaggled with reporters on the White House North Lawn, saying she was headed to a meeting with hostages who were released from Gaza and their families.

There will be a White House press briefing on Wednesday, she said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer meets with reporters at the US Capitol earlier this month.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer became defensive when pressed by CNN on why Democrats did not vocally demand the release of the Epstein files when Senate Democrats were in the majority and Joe Biden was president.

“I did, in 2019,” said Schumer. When asked why he’s being more vocal now, he replied, “I did. Please, that’s not true. Absolutely not true.”

While Schumer went to the Senate floor and called for an Epstein probe in 2019, that’s when his party was in the minority and Donald Trump was president. After Senate Democrats took the majority and Joe Biden won in 2020, the Epstein controversy was relegated to the back burner.

Government funding: The Democratic leader also indicated that there will be enough Democratic support on a vote this afternoon to press ahead on funding for military and veterans’ issues, despite ongoing frustrations with Republicans’ votes last week to codify some Department of Government Efficiency cuts. The big question remains whether the two sides can reach a deal to fund the entire federal government by the September 30 deadline to avoid a shutdown.

“Look, we Democrats want a bipartisan deal. We’re working together to get one. But the bottom line is, Republicans are making it much harder,” said Schumer.

Schumer added that there will be meetings between top House and Senate Democrats on government funding today.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune walks to the chamber earlier this month.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune punted when pressed on how the Senate could address the Epstein probe, deferring instead to the White House and Department of Justice.

On other issues:

Government funding: Thune said that it is “up to the Democrats” if they will cooperate.

“Well, I would say that’s going to be, I think, largely up to the Democrats. I hope we can get 60 votes. Yes, it’s not easy around here getting 60 votes on anything, but we’ve said before that if there’s anything in the Senate that ought to be bipartisan, it’s the appropriations process and getting back to regular order on that. So, we’ll see where the votes are,” he told reporters. “At this point, I’m hesitant to predict that.”

Russia: The majority leader also reiterated that the Senate is ready to move on the bipartisan Russia sanctions bill once it gets the green light from the White House, but he did not say if that would happen before the senators leave for recess.

President Donald Trump’s allegations of treason and sedition against former President Barack Obama are “bizarre” and “ridiculous,” a spokesman for Obama said today after Trump lobbed the claims during an Oval Office meeting.

Earlier today, Trump declared his intent to “go after people” for what he says were attempts to interfere in the 2016 election by claiming Russia was seeking to influence the result. Multiple comprehensive investigations have concluded that Russia did attempt to interfere in the election in favor of Trump.

“Whether it’s right or wrong, it’s time to go after people,” Trump said in the Oval Office, where he was hosting the president of the Philippines.

Trump insisted Obama was guilty of crimes for what he said was his role in weaponizing intelligence, calling the former Democratic president the “ringleader” of the alleged conspiracy.

He appeared to be pointing to information declassified and released last week by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard that she claimed was evidence of a “treasonous conspiracy” by top Obama administration officials to manufacture the notion that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election.

Obama’s representative said nothing in the documents suggests a 2017 intelligence report on the matter was wrong.

“Nothing in the document issued last week undercuts the widely accepted conclusion that Russia worked to influence the 2016 presidential election but did not successfully manipulate any votes,” Rodenbush said. “These findings were affirmed in a 2020 report by the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee, led by then-Chairman Marco Rubio.”

The Trump administration has faced increasing backlash over its handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files after Attorney General Pam Bondi walked back her promise to release as many documents in the Justice Department’s possession as possible, announcing that there is no evidence Epstein kept a “client list” or was murdered.

Here’s the latest on this issue:

DOJ: The Department of Justice said it plans to reach out to Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell for a meeting as calls grow for her to testify about the accused sex trafficker. Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for carrying out a years-long scheme with Epstein to groom and sexually abuse underage girls. President Donald Trump said it “sounds appropriate” for the Justice Department to reach out for a meeting.

Possible delays: The federal judge overseeing Maxwell’s case said he needs more information before he can unseal grand jury transcripts requested by the DOJ. Meanwhile, a person close to Maxwell said she will oppose the unsealing of grand jury materials related to her and Epstein.

GOP lawmakers: Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team told House Republicans that the administration needs time to deal with the issue, sources say. But many lawmakers were not pleased with that call for patience. The deadlock has essentially ground House floor activity to a halt. The House will leave for its August recess a day earlier as Republican GOP leaders hope to sap the momentum behind a push by GOP Rep. Thomas Massie to force a vote on an Epstein-related measure.

Meanwhile, in other news:

Trade deals: Trump said he reached a trade agreement with Philippines and the terms of a deal with Indonesia.

US out of UNESCO: Trump pulled the US out of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Russia investigation: Trump declared his intent to “go after people” for what he says were attempts to interfere in the 2016 election by claiming Russia was seeking to influence the result. He insisted former President Barack Obama was guilty of crimes for what he said was his role in weaponizing intelligence.

US envoy departs: Special envoy Steve Witkoff will travel to Europe this week for conversations on a Gaza ceasefire, a US official said. He is then expected to travel to the Qatari capital of Doha for further discussions, according to a separate source familiar with his plans.

This post was updated with more details on Witkoff’s travel.

Ghislaine Maxwell will oppose the unsealing of grand jury materials related to her and Jeffrey Epstein, according to a person close to her.

It’s the latest legal twist after the Department of Justice asked a judge to make the confidential proceedings available to the public.

A judge in Maxwell’s case had asked her legal team to weigh in by August 5. Maxwell continues to attempt to appeal her conviction. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

President Donald Trump hosts Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and members of his delegation in the Oval Office at the White House on July 22 in Washington, DC.

President Donald Trump said today he and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the Philippines have reached a trade agreement.

The agreement calls for 19% tariffs on goods coming from the Philippines, while American goods shipped there won’t be charged a tariff, Trump said in a post on Truth Social.

This comes as the two leaders met in the White House today.

The agreement is somewhat unusual given that other countries Trump claims to have reached agreements with call for lower tariff rates compared to levels the president threatened to impose in April. Meanwhile, goods from the Philippines were charged a minimum 17% “reciprocal” tariff in April before Trump paused those. Earlier this month, he threatened a 20% tariff on goods from the Philippines as of August 1.

This post has been updated with more information.

The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned whether a meeting between Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and Ghislaine Maxwell would produce anything, saying his focus remains on wanting more information from the Department of Justice and FBI.

“We’ve already had the attorney general announce that she is possession of client list information and then can’t produce it. So I don’t, I’m not sure what this visit is going to glean,” Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said.

Durbin, who has requested documents from the FBI and DOJ, suggested that a subpoena could potentially be necessary to get top officials to testify before the Judiciary Committee.

The Democrat claimed that the committee has received information that FBI agents were assigned to look through the Epstein files and flag mentions of President Donald Trump’s name.

“So many agents who should have been investigating issues of national security, safety, narcotics and the like, were assigned the task of going through this file here by Jeffrey Epstein creation that, to me, seems like a waste of talent and law enforcement. I believe it did happen,” he said.