President Donald Trump‘s nominee for director of national intelligence took blame for insufficient redactions of material released about Jeffrey Epstein‘s victims in a congressional hearing on Wednesday.

Jay Clayton admitted that the buck ultimately stopped with him when a batch of files was released in January, which was chalked up to a ‘technical review error.’

The released information included addresses and even nude photos of potential Epstein victims in the release, and victims’ lawyers said this re‑traumatized survivors and ‘turned their lives upside down.’ 

Clayton serves as the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and part of the Epstein case was investigated within his jurisdiction. 

As the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Clayton was tasked to personally certify that unsealed grand jury material did not disclose victims’ personal information.

The judge added this requirement so that a clearly identifiable DOJ official would ‘take ownership’ of reviewing sensitive discovery.

Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico invoked Harry Truman’s saying, ‘The buck stops here,’ and asked where the buck stops in this case, to which Clayton answered, ‘For the Southern District documents, it was me.’ 

Clayton finally took his seat before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, roughly a month after President Trump torpedoed his own nominee’s confirmation hearing in a pre-dawn Truth Social post that threw Capitol Hill into chaos.

In the hearing, Clayton admitted mistakes in the release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein

The irony: Clayton had been sailing toward an easy, bipartisan confirmation, with senators in both parties eager to replace acting spy chief Bill Pulte, who has no intelligence background. Then Trump pulled the plug himself.

In June, the President abruptly canceled the hearing and vowed to keep Pulte in place, refusing to let the nomination advance until a string of separate demands were met, among them the confirmation of Jamie McDonald as US Attorney and passage of the SAVE America Act, his voter-ID bill.

‘We are canceling the Senate Hearing RE: DNI today, and will not be going forward until Jamie McDonald is approved to be U.S. Attorney,’ Trump wrote at the time. ‘In the meantime, Bill Pulte will remain as the Acting Director of National Intelligence.’

The stunt drew a pointed rebuke from the committee’s ranking member, Mark Warner, who used his opening statement to needle the President. 

Warner said he could not recall another nominee senators had agreed, on a bipartisan basis, to ‘move heaven and earth’ to confirm quickly, only for the president to yank the hearing and, in the process, blow up the critical FISA authorization. ‘I know you had nothing to do with that,’ Warner told Clayton. ‘So I guess congratulations about getting finally in front of this committee.’

The urgency is real. Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a key spy power, has been expired for over a month since it lapsed in the middle of June, and lawmakers in both parties want a confirmed, credentialed DNI in place.

Democrat Mark Warner of Virginia and Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, at the nomination hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday

Clayton is Donald Trump’s nominee for director of intelligence 

Clayton’s chief vulnerability is that he has never held a formal national security role. Committee chairman Tom Cotton moved to inoculate him, casting Clayton’s day job as US Attorney for the Southern District of New York as perhaps ‘the number one national security-related US Attorney’s office in the country.’ 

That office prosecuted the case against captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. Clayton also chaired the SEC from 2017 through the COVID pandemic, a stretch Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota called ‘a period of significant uncertainty for financial markets.’ 

‘National security and economic security are synonymous,’ Clayton told the committee. Rounds added that Clayton already has a working relationship with CIA director John Ratcliffe to build on.

Clayton was Trump’s second choice. 

His first pick, Federal Housing Finance Agency head Bill Pulte, drew swift blowback over his lack of intelligence experience. 

The vacancy opened when Tulsi Gabbard resigned to support her husband, Abraham, through cancer treatment.

Asked Wednesday whether he had been told why his hearing was delayed, Clayton declined to reveal the internal discussions.

Cotton noted Wednesday that he intends for the Intelligence Committee to vote to pass along Clayton’s nomination to the full chamber early next week.

President Donald Trump has leapt to the defense of Immigration and Customs Enforcement after its agents were told to pause traffic stops after two deadly shootings just days apart.

“The men and women of ICE are doing a GREAT job, one that has to be done,” the president wrote on Truth Social early Wednesday.

“CRIME IS WAY DOWN IN AMERICA, in many cases with numbers that haven’t been seen in decades. The Open Border Policy of Sleepy Joe Biden allowed 25,000,000 people to pour into our Country, unchecked and unvetted. Many were Criminals, and we have to get them out,” the president wrote. “In order to do this, we must be strong, tough, and smart, and we CANNOT give up one of I.C.E.’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP! Once we do, we are playing right into the criminal’s hands.”

He continued: “The Radical Left Dumocrats would like to see this done, but it won’t happen on my watch. I.C.E., be judicious, fair and smart, and go back and do your very important job. Keep those Crime Stat Records coming! Remember, you are loved and respected in America.”

The president’s post came after Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin ordered the pause “effective immediately,” advising federal agents to “prioritize other existing operational methods” in an internal email seen by The Atlantic.

The order came in response to the killing of Joan Sebastian Guerrero, a 28-year-old Colombian man living in Maine, and the death of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old father of three children in Houston.

Both men died after having their vehicles stopped by agents, becoming the 10th and 11th people to be shot dead since the Trump administration began its large-scale round-up of suspected undocumented migrants last year.

An ICE spokesperson told The Independent of the change of strategy: “We are always evaluating our procedures to keep our officers safe and criminals off our streets. We will not disclose or discuss law enforcement tactics.”

Seeking to reassure the public Tuesday, White House border czar Tom Homan characterized the traffic stop decision as a “necessary short-term pause” and told reporters it was important for ICE to establish the facts about the deaths of Guerrero and Salgado Araujo and ask itself: “Is the training sufficient? Did anything go wrong?”

“I’m confident they’re going to get back to their policy of vehicle stops, but they’re doing… what they believe is a necessary short-term pause just to look at it and make sure everything’s good,” he said.

As was the case with the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis earlier this year, the version of events offered by officials has been met with a degree of skepticism that are often proven incorrect from witness video and testimony.

An ICE spokesperson said its officers “attempted to conduct a vehicle stop” on Guerrero in the coastal town of Biddeford, Maine, Monday morning when “the vehicle attempted to flee the scene,” prompting an agent “fearing for public safety” to fire his weapon.

Similarly, a DHS spokesperson said that Salgado Araujo had tried to “evade arrest” and “weaponized his vehicle” in an attempt to “run over” an ICE officer in Houston, days earlier, leaving the latter to fire “in self-defense.”

However, in neither case were the agents involved wearing body cameras, despite a directive issued by Mullin’s predecessor Kristi Noem that they should do so to record their interactions in the interest of transparency.

Witnesses who saw the Salgado Araujo confrontation, including the deceased’s brother and two co-workers, have challenged the official narrative and since alleged that immigration authorities have pressured them to sign deportation orders to ensure they leave the U.S.

In a statement to The Independent, DHS said the agency’s Office of Inspector General was leading an investigation into the fatal shooting while the FBI’s Houston office is leading a probe “into the potential assault on a federal law enforcement officer.”

Agents have shot at least 20 people within the last year and nearly all of them were in their cars.

Andy Burnham has said he won’t be afraid to disagree with American president Donald Trump, adding that he would try to “meet him where he’s at” while “respecting the office”.

The prime minister-in-waiting told Gary Lineker in an interview for Goalhanger: “Maybe in a similar way to the way I’ve just described, I’ll just meet him where he’s at. And, you know, I like to think I’ve got some personality myself and I’ll just, you know, I’ll deal with him very upfront in the same way. I think he likes people to deal with him.

“He described Manchester as some town when he was referring to my position. And I might have to, you know what Mancs are like, Gary, that won’t have gone down fantastically well in the city I used to represent.

“But yeah, you know, it’s about being yourself, isn’t it? It’s about respecting the office, the relationship, the UK-US relationship. But, you know, where you disagree, do it, but do it in a way that is kind of meeting him where he’s at.”

The interview came after Sir Keir Starmer was told he would be remembered as a “giant of the Labour movement” as he marked the final meeting of his top team of ministers on Wednesday.

Elsewhere in the interview the future prime minister declined to rule out a wealth tax and suggested the Government “might be having to ask for a little more” at some point.

He did not commit to a change but said the UK needed a “greater sense of fairness”.

On the prospect of a wealth tax, he told Gary Lineker: “I’m going to obviously take my time to properly look at the state of things, particularly the state of finances. And I just said a moment ago, Gary, about bringing people together. You know, I don’t want to come in and sort of, if you like, create new divisions and pitch people one against another.

“I’m not going rule things out right now. I do believe we need a greater sense of fairness and people feeling that things are being done in the right way and a fair way. But at the same time, you know, I don’t want to sort of be perceived as somebody who’s coming in with grudges and agendas and, you know, going to just immediately find or demonise one group or create a new way of dividing people.”

He added: “So, you know, decisions to be taken in time, they’re going to be difficult. I’m not going to shy away from that. You know, we are going to have to work quite hard to make sure, you know, we can pay our way.

“And at some point that might be having to ask for a little more. But, you know, those decisions are not for now. They’re for another day.”

Plans to reprofile the watercourse of Tang Hall Beck, in Heworth Holme between Burnholme Drive and Tang Hall Lane, have been approved by York Council.

Applicants St Nicks stated the works would enable the establishment of diverse vegetation suitable for animals including invertebrates, amphibians, birds and mammals while providing the public with new access opportunities.

But seven objections were lodged claiming the works could increase the risk of flooding along the beck and elsewhere.

Council planning officers stated they and the Environment Agency found there would be no increased risk of flooding due to the works which would improve biodiversity.

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Environmental charity St Nicks’ plans, which were lodged in 2024, include the removal of wood and steel bank protection using a 14-tonne digger.

Protection is set to be removed when water levels are low, with St Nicks staff monitoring the works.

The banks of the beck are set to be reprofiled with the grading changed.

More bends will be created in the watercourse and the beck’s capacity would also be increased.

St Nicks is planning to work with the York Consortium of Drainage Boards (YCDB) and York St John University to put wood debris and brash berms in the stream.

Coarse substrate will also be placed in selected locations in the bed of the beck.

Riparian plants, those which naturally grow along the banks of rivers and streams, are also set to be seeded by St Nicks staff and volunteers.

The entrance to Heworth Holme, home to Tang Hall Beck, in Bad Bargain Lane, York (Image: Google Street View)

Plans stated weather and beck levels are set to be monitored throughout the works which would be postponed if conditions become unsafe.

But objectors to the plans, including Osbaldwick and Derwent’s Restore UK councillor Mark Warters, said previous works on the beck in 2017 had raised concerns about flooding locally.

They pointed to flooding in the nearby Osbaldwick Beck in January 2025 which resulted in it bursting its banks in Hull Road Park.

Tang Hall Beck is in a Flood Zone Three which is deemed the most at risk.

Council planning officers stated the intention of the scheme was to improve water quality and biodiversity which was consistent with its local policies.

Officers stated: “The application has been supported by a site-specific flood risk assessment.

“The works include measures to increase capacity of the watercourse, by reprofiling the banks, in addition to altering the profile of the watercourse.

“Overall the assessment concludes there would be no loss of capacity and no increased flood risk, either locally or elsewhere.”

The man set numerous cars alight across Cambridgeshire

A man torched several cars across Fenland and destroyed victims’ possessions. Rolandas Fedorenko, 25, set fire to a Nissan Juke in Furrowfields car park, Chatteris, in the early hours of April 1, 2025.

He lit a toilet roll and plastic and put it under the bumper, leaving the vehicle to burn out and also damaging a nearby van and fence. Later in the year, he began starting fires again, according to Cambridgeshire Police.

On November 1, in a car park in Palmers Place, Wisbech, he set fire to a cap and put it under the wheel arch of a Mini Cooper. This damaged the car and a nearby van.

On November 25, behind Market Place, in Wisbech, he set fire to a sock and put it under the wheel arch of another Mini Cooper.

Detective Sergeant Leeza McCormick said: “The victims of these fires had valuable possessions destroyed and were left without their normal means of transport. It is also fortunate the fires did not spread to any nearby buildings and put people at risk.”

The force has confirmed the fire did not spread in the second attack and the damage was minor. He was arrested a few hours after the offence behind Market Place.

Fedorenko, of Waterlees Road, Wisbech, admitted the six counts of arson and was jailed for 14 months at Cambridge Crown Court on Friday, July 10.

By HARRY BAMFORTH, LIVE SPORTS COVERAGE REPORTER

Updated: 16:52 BST, 15 July 2026

A man has been arrested over an alleged threat to shoot Reform UK leader Nigel Farage made in a social media post.

The arrest relates to a post made on X which was reported to police on 8 May, a day after the local and mayoral elections.

The Met Police said a man in his 20s was arrested in south London on Tuesday this week on suspicion of sending threatening communications to a Member of Parliament.

He has been bailed pending further inquiries.

The arrest came six days after Reform spokesperson Ann Widdecombe was killed at her Devon home. Counter terror police are investigating the death.

The Parliamentary Liaison and Investigation Team informed Farage of the arrest on Wednesday.

Farage said: “This is the first time the police have ever proactively acted on a social media post, and I hope they are looking at the other three or four hundred similar posts from this year alone.”

The arrest was first reported in the Daily Telegraph newspaper,, external which said the social media post warned Farage: “I am going to shoot you in the head if you win”.

Police told Farage it could take several weeks to examine digital devices they had seized.

Earlier on Wednesday Reform UK’s home affairs spokesperson said if the party was in government it would provide “round-the-clock protection” for all MPs.

Announcing the proposed policy at a press conference, Zia Yusuf also said Farage “lives his life under the ever-present threat of mortal danger” and those who “question his need for security should stop”.

The people behind an award-winning Cardiff café said it will have to close at the end of next month after the church where it is based asked them to leave.

Maasi’s, a Pakistani café selling traditional family-recipe meals, has been based at St Luke’s Hall in Canton since it opened in 2021. However, the family-run business said it has now been asked to vacate the hall and claims the church “are not willing to engage further” despite their “best efforts”.

A petition set up to try to get the church to reconsider their decision to “evict” Maasi’s had received over 650 signatures. The church confirmed Maasi’s had been asked to leave the hall by August 31, adding that the café has since outgrown the “charitable” agreement initially agreed when the project first started. Full story here.

The new BBC boss has said he is pushing for a mandatory ‘household levy’ to replace the optional TV licence, as numbers paying the fee have plummeted.

Director-general Matt Brittin said he was ‘open to all options’ to fund the broadcasting giant after it was revealed that licence fee income has dropped by more than £1billion in real terms in the last decade.

Half a million people stopped paying their licence in the 2025/26 financial year, so the broadcaster is looking to recoup its finances, which Mr Brittin said are in ‘an unpredictable but downward spiral.’

‘We need universality, we need sufficiency,’ he added.

A household levy would mean everyone pays a mandatory fee to the BBC regardless of whether people watch or listen to its programmes. The charge could be levied alongside utility bills, proponents of the idea say.

Germany funds its equivalent of the BBC in this way – households pay a compulsory €18.36 per month (£15.70) to fund the nation’s TV and radio.

Mr Brittin, 57, argued for a possible introduction of a household levy at the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee as part of the BBC charter review.

He said: ‘It’s very, very hard to run an organisation that can attract the best creative, journalistic and technical people if you’re going to have to cut costs every year’.

It comes as it was revealed that licence fee income has dropped by more than £1billion in real terms in the last decade. Half a million licencees stopped paying the fee in the last financial year and the price has now been bumped up to £180 a year

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said ‘no decisions’ had been made on introducing the levy earlier this month

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The new director-general has previously described the licence fee model as a ‘busted flush’ which is ‘no longer fit for purpose’. 

The licence fee price has gone up to £180 a year from April 1, up from £174.50.

But the hike in price appears not to be sufficient, as Mr Brittin floated the idea of introducing a ‘streaming levy’, which would expand the scope of the licence fee to include anyone who watches content on Netflix, YouTube, TikTok or other types of internet video streaming.

But he did tell MPs last week about the ‘appealing’ possibility of concessions for young people and low-income households in paying the fee.

However, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said ‘no decisions’ had been made on introducing the levy earlier this month.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘I think there are different ways of doing a household levy. But every time I have a discussion about the BBC licence fee, if an option is put to me, people assume if I don’t rule it out that the Government has some kind of secret plot to introduce it.

‘I can tell you, hand on heart, that we have made no decisions about this.

‘We’re talking to the BBC about it. We’re also about to go out, as part of the charter process, and consult with the public. We’re determined to get this right.

‘What is not negotiable is that we will fund the BBC properly. That is a commitment that we have made.

‘What is up for negotiation is how we do that, because it has to be sustainable and it has to command public support.’

Mr Brittin stressed the need for the BBC to reinvent itself.

The former Google executive told the committee: ‘I think the onus on us is to reinvent the BBC for the world we’re now in, and that requires us to focus on the audience value, the public service value, of the BBC, what does that mean today?

‘The economic impact, and I think last week we published a sort of an updated report that shows the scale of that impact.

‘And in this moment of geopolitical and international disruption by the scale of technology and innovation to come, the sovereignty impact, British values and how they’re portrayed in the world and how the world sees us.

‘And I think on that third one, we also published last week a report that shows that the BBC is reaching over half a billion people around the world, something we should be really proud of.

‘So the opportunity, I think, for us is to reinterpret the BBC’s mission with today’s technology and today’s setting – that will imply quite a lot of change, and as we discussed last week, also a rethink of the funding mechanism, if we’re to have a BBC that has sufficient universality, scale and sustainability.’

If a household levy was introduced and 100 per cent of households are made to pay – as currently around only 80 per cent pay for a licence – the price could be reduced for users and it would save the BBC hundreds of millions in collection and enforcement costs.

Though critics have raised questions over being made to pay for a service they might not actually be using. 

As it stands, the annual report said the BBC’s financial outlook ‘deteriorated’ in the second half of 2025.

Mr Brittin replaced former BBC head Tim Davie, who resigned in November 2025 over the controversial BBC Panorama edit of Donald Trump’s speech on January 6, 2021, which made it sound like he encouraged the attack on the US Capitol.