U.S. and world news for July 29

Trump breaks with Netanyahu over Gaza starvation

While on his trip to Scotland, President Trump has disputed claims by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that starvation is not an issue in Gaza. Netanyahu has said that people in Gaza are not starving. Trump now says that’s not correct, that people in Gaza are starving. Trump promised more food for Gaza but did not make any moves to make good on the promise. The United Nations says more than a thousand people have been killed by Israeli forces while seeking food since late May. All 2.1 million people in Gaza are now in need of food. Today, Gaza’s health ministry said 900,000 children are going hungry, and 70,000 already show signs of malnutrition.

Trump Administration files complaint against judge who ruled against it

The Department of Justice has filed a misconduct complaint against U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg – marking another formal challenge against a federal judge who has pushed back on the Trump Administration’s policies. The complaint, submitted Monday and obtained by CNN, alleges that Boasberg, who ruled against Trump sending people to a prison in El Salvador without due process, made comments about Trump at a Judicial Conference meeting in March that “undermined the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.” The complaint asks the chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to refer the complaint to a special investigative committee, reassign Boasberg’s relevant cases to another judge, and also raises the possibility that Boasberg could be impeached.

Extreme weather hits parts of U.S.

A dangerous line of storms roared across the northern Plains and upper Midwest overnight, unleashing large hail and wind gusts over 90 mph. Several tornadoes were also reported in parts of rural South Dakota and Iowa, the National Weather Service said. The thunderstorm complex weakened before it could meet the distance criteria to be classified as a derecho, but the end result was the same: damage to homes and businesses, hundreds of trees down and more than 250,000 customers without power. The severe storm threat has lessened to a Level 2 of 5 risk today as the system shifts south and east into the central Plains and Great Lakes. The Weather Prediction Center has also identified a Level 2 of 4 risk of flooding rain across the region.

Lawsuit filed to stop Trump Administration from taking personal information

Twenty states are suing the Trump Administration, alleging that the Department of Agriculture is improperly attempting to gather sensitive personal information about the low-income families who use the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to buy groceries. “This unprecedented demand that states turn over SNAP data violates all kinds of state and federal privacy laws and further breaks the trust between the federal government and the people it serves,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement. When announcing the effort in May, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the government needs access to information about the people who use food stamps because SNAP “has been on autopilot, with no USDA insight into real-time data.”

Judge blocks Trump’s action against Planned Parenthood

In a new preliminary injunction issued Monday, a federal judge has blocked the nationwide enforcement of a provision in President Trump’s sweeping domestic policy law that would defund Planned Parenthood’s health care services. The measure, which he signed on July 4, bars Medicaid users from coverage with a health care provider that also provides abortion services. Last week, U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani ruled that the administration couldn’t enforce the funding ban against some Planned Parenthood organizations, but now she has widened the block. “Patients are likely to suffer adverse health consequences where care is disrupted or unavailable. In particular, restricting Members’ ability to provide health care services threatens an increase in unintended pregnancies and attendant complications because of reduced access to effective contraceptives, and an increase in undiagnosed and untreated (sexually transmitted infections) STIs,” Talwani wrote in her ruling.

Ghislaine Maxwell asks for Supreme Court help

Ghislaine Maxwell, who was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for carrying out a yearslong scheme with her confidante Jeffrey Epstein to groom and sexually abuse underage girls, is urging the Supreme Court to take up her pending appeal and overturn her sex-trafficking conviction in a new brief to the court. Her attorneys claim she was covered by an agreement Epstein made with federal authorities that shielded her from prosecution. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Maxwell, finding that the agreement made with prosecutors in Florida did not bind the authorities in New York. This latest request comes amid a political firestorm over the Trump Administration’s handling of the Epstein files. Although Maxwell recently met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche for questioning, those talks were not mentioned in the Supreme Court filing. House Oversight Chair James Comer has also subpoenaed Maxwell for a deposition.