A Contentious Media Merger, and the F.B.I.’s Epstein Scramble

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From the New York Times, it's the headlines.

I'm Tracy Mumford.

Today's Friday, July 25th.

Here's what we're covering.

One of the most highly scrutinized media mergers of the last decade, which has the potential to affect what millions of Americans watch and how they get their news, just got the green light from the Trump administration to go ahead.

The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount, which owns CBS and other networks, to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance.

The $8 billion deal required government sign-off, and the FCC chairman said the agency approved it after receiving assurances that the company would be committed to what he called unbiased journalism, and that it would not establish any DEI initiatives, which the White House has targeted.

Leading up to the announcement, Paramount had faced sharp questions over how it may have tried to curry favor with the administration to get the deal through.

This summer, it agreed to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit Trump had filed about a segment on the CBS show 60 Minutes, a suit that most legal experts said was baseless.

Now, I believe that this kind of complicated financial settlement with a sitting government official has a technical name in legal circles.

It's Big Fat Bribe.

Stephen Colbert, the host of another CBS show, Late Night, said the settlement seemed to him like a payoff.

Days later, his show was canceled, which Trump cheered on social media, as some Democrats claimed it was a political move by the network.

The company has denied that, saying it was a financial decision.

Moving forward, Skydance has said it will install an official whose job it is to ensure fairness across all of its news programming.

The FCC chairman celebrated that, writing, Americans no longer trust the legacy national news media, and it is time for a change.

A Democratic appointee to the commission, however, called the agreement process alarming, saying the FCC had used its power to pressure Paramount and, quote, erode press freedom.

In Washington.

Thank you very much.

We're looking at the construction and we're with the chairman, as you know.

Chairman, come on over.

President Trump escalated his pressure campaign against the chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, making a rare visit to the Fed's headquarters, which are undergoing major renovations.

Presidents typically stay away from the Fed building, part of a long-standing effort to keep the Fed's decision-making independent from politics.

But Trump has been turning up his public criticism of Powell, including accusations that he's mismanaged the renovation project, which is run over budget.

My colleague Alan Rappaport was covering Trump's visit.

So the purpose of this whole field trip was allegedly about the costs of the renovation to the Federal Reserve Building, but there's really a larger story at play here, which is President Trump's dissatisfaction with Chair Powell's setting of interest rate policies and handling of inflation.

He really has been pressuring him to lower interest rates and do so quickly.

And the attention to the Federal Reserve Building is another kind of tool that he has been using kind of as a cudgel to put more pressure on Powell to follow his orders.

Over the course of the visit, Trump claimed that the costs of the project had ballooned to over $3 billion.

But Powell corrected him, calling out the fact that Trump's calculations included the cost of renovations to a separate building that were completed years ago.

The Times has learned new details about how the Trump administration has handled the Jeffrey Epstein case.

This spring, the Justice Department pulled hundreds of FBI employees and federal prosecutors off of their normal jobs to search through more than 100,000 pages of material related to Epstein.

The goal was to find anything that could satisfy Trump supporters who'd been riled up by conspiracy theories that some of the president's allies had helped fuel.

In all, the DOJ employees were ordered to redo the search four separate times, some working mandatory around-the-clock shifts, which raised concerns internally that the review was being rushed and could expose sensitive information about witnesses and victims.

Later, when the DOJ announced that the review hadn't turned up anything new, it it set off a firestorm of criticism that's only been growing, and the administration is continuing to scramble to contain it.

This week, Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, who used to be Trump's personal lawyer, flew down to Florida to question Ghillaine Maxwell, a longtime Epstein associate who's in prison for sex trafficking.

It's not clear that Maxwell has any information to reveal that's not already public, but the interview underscores the extent to which the administration is trying to deflect claims that it's covering up details of the Epstein case, in particular, his interactions with high-profile figures, including Trump himself.

After speaking with Maxwell yesterday, Blanche said he intends to sit down with her again today and that the DOJ will share what it's learned at, quote, the appropriate time.

The hunger crisis in Gaza has certainly reached new and astonishing levels of desperation.

The United Nations World Food Program is sounding the alarm about starvation in Gaza.

Information we have is a third of the population are not eating for multiple days in a row.

This includes women and children.

Doctors there tell the Times that they're seeing harrowing scenes of people too exhausted to even walk and that growing numbers of their patients are starving to death amid Israel's ongoing siege of the territory.

They're also warning about the long-term effects of malnutrition, particularly for children, including disrupting growth and cognitive development.

The Times talked to one mother who lives with her 18-month-old son in a tent, who said, we go to bed hungry and wake up thinking only about how to find food.

She said her son had been diagnosed with severe malnutrition, and on a recent visit to a clinic, doctors told her there was little they could do, saying the only real treatment was food and water.

Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron said yesterday that for the first time, his country will recognize Palestinian statehood.

Many other countries around the world have already done that, but France is the first member of the G7 to do so, breaking step with the U.S., Britain, Canada, and other major Western powers.

Macron said the move is intended to help spur peace in the Middle East, but it comes as the latest effort to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas appears to have stumbled again, with nearly every party involved, including the U.S., giving conflicting explanations about what will come next.

And finally,

Hulk Hogan arrived!

Hulk, Hulk, Hulk!

What has he done, God?

Hulk Mammania is here.

Hulk Hogan, who helped transform professional wrestling from its low-rent roots to a multi-billion dollar industry, has died at 71.

Born Terry Jean Bolea, Hogan went on to become the face of professional wrestling in the 80s and 90s with his horseshoe mustache and long blonde hair.

At 6'8 ⁇ , with biceps that he called his 24-inch pythons, he was a literal massive presence in the ring, famous for tearing off his shirt, which for the record was usually pre-ripped.

His career took him from playing the bad guy, the heel, in wrestling, to the patriotic good guy, in matches that were always predetermined, predetermined, like all pro wrestling, but always brought the drama.

Hogan's over-the-top behavior did ignite controversy at times, both in and out of the ring.

He admitted to taking steroids, and he was involved in a sex tape scandal-turned lawsuit that brought down the website Gawker.

Hogan also stepped into the political arena with his friendship with President Trump.

Let Trumpomania rule again.

At the Republican Republican National Convention last year, Hogan ripped off his shirt on stage as he endorsed Trump's campaign.

But out of the spotlight, the moment I come home,

the headband comes off the bald head.

And, you know, it's just Terry.

Dad, father, husband, friend.

I have no wrestling pictures in my house.

Hogan said in TV interviews that he tried to live a normal life, though he admitted he couldn't ever really quite escape Hulkomania, saying, quote, the moment I walk out the front door, the world doesn't want Terry.

He said, Even his mailman would look up and say, Hey, Hulk.

Those are the headlines.

But stick around, we've got the Friday news quiz for you after the credits.

This show is made by Will Jarvis, Jessica Metzger, Jan Stewart, and me, Tracy Mumford.

Original theme by Dan Powell.

Special thanks to Isabella Anderson, Larissa Anderson, Jake Lucas, Zoe Murphy, Katie O'Brien, and Paula Schumann.

Now for the quiz.

We've got questions about a few stories the Times has covered this week.

Can you answer them all?

Okay, first up.

We worked on it long and hard, and it's a great deal for everybody.

I always say it has to be great for everybody.

It's a great deal.

President Trump announced a new trade deal with Japan this week, which will spare the country some of the most drastic tariffs he'd threatened.

It's a huge relief for Japan, especially for one of its major industries.

We're going to see if you can guess what it is.

What is the number one Japanese export to the U.S.?

A.

Cars, B, rice, C, cell phones, or D, video games.

So that's cars, rice, phones, or video games.

The answer?

Cars.

They are by far Japan's largest export to America, and Japanese automakers say they've lost billions of dollars in the past few months as tariffs kicked in.

What Trump really wants is for Japan to buy just as many American cars in exchange, but there's at least one big or little problem with that.

Many American cars, especially SUVs, are just too big for narrow Japanese streets.

That Ford F-150 is going to have a little trouble in Tokyo.

Okay, next up.

Venus, Venus, Venus.

Venus Williams made a triumphant return to professional tennis this week, becoming at 45 years old, one of the oldest women to ever win a singles match on the Pro Tour.

The seven-time Grand Slam winner was playing in her first match in more than a year at the City Open in Washington, D.C.

I mean, first of all, you guys out here, thank you so much for the energy.

Williams' return was something of a surprise, and in a post-match interview, she explained why she got back on the court.

We're going to play that for you here with a few key words missing.

I had to come back for the ins because they informed me earlier this year I'm a

so I was like I got to get my benefits on

started training

what was Williams talking about about why she felt she had to come back

a hint it's not the prize money it's not the glory

The answer?

I had to come back for the insurance because they informed me earlier this year I'm on Cobra.

Williams said she came back for health insurance.

You guys know what it's like.

And let me tell you, I'm always at the doctor, so I need this insurance.

All right, last question.

The music legend Ozzy Osborne died at 76 years old this week.

He was, of course, known for his satanic-tinged heavy metal performances, but also for being an early reality TV star on MTV.

I'm begging of you, Sharon.

I'm begging you, no more animals, please, boo.

Animals, I'm not bringing back an animal.

The Osbournes, which showcased the life of Ozzie and his family, helped spawn a whole genre of celebrity or celebrity-adjacent reality TV.

So your question: Can you name these three other stars who let cameras into their homes?

We'll play you a clip of each one.

Here we go.

Is this chicken what I have, or is this fish?

I know it's tuna, but it says chicken by the sea.

Who hasn't wondered that, really?

Okay, next clip.

What's wrong with you guys?

My diamond earring came up in the ocean and it's gone.

There's people that are dying.

And the last one, a bit more recent.

She had what she had and she was happy.

Then I sucked her into this filthy, disgusting world I'm in.

I think she's less happy as a result of what we had to put up with.

We'll play those one more time, real quick.

Who are these celebrities?

I know it's tuna, but it says chicken.

My diamond earring came off in the ocean and it spawned.

I think she's less happy as a result of what we had to put up with.

Okay, that was

singer Jessica Simpson on The Newlyweds, asking the hard questions about tuna.

Kim Kardashian on Keeping Up with the Kardashians, that family supercharged the whole industry of reality TV, so thank you for that.

And Alec Baldwin, who is proof this trend has not gone away.

He released a new show, The Baldwins, about his family just this year.

The reviews have been a little rough, with critics calling it cringy, unsettling, and a dreadful new low for television.

All right, that is it for the news quiz.

If you want to tell us how you did or what you think about the quiz, you can always email us at the headlines at nytimes.com.

The show will be back on Monday.