Gabbard’s ‘Bombshell’ and the Real Russiagate Scandal. Plus. . .

It’s Wednesday, July 23. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Today: Rahm Emanuel on Honestly, River Page on a black comedy that skewers the left and the right, Haviv Rettig Gur on the livestream, Joe Nocera on why Juul is no longer the bad guy, and more.

But first: Are the latest Russiagate claims a bombshell or a nothingburger?

When Tulsi Gabbard first announced the declassification of a new set of Russiagate documents on Friday, I was eager to learn more about a scandal I have spent the last nine years covering as a reporter. In the past, reports from the Justice Department’s inspector general and U.S. Attorney John Durham have shown the FBI relied on bogus research generated on behalf of Hillary Clinton’s campaign to frame Trump for colluding with Russia’s election meddling. They’ve largely been ignored by the elite press, leaving juicy stories to the handful of journalists who stayed with the story.

Now the director of national intelligence is claiming the scandal was even more serious than we realized. Gabbard accused Barack Obama of being part of a “treasonous conspiracy,” and has recommended the Justice Department investigate and prosecute this alleged conspiracy.

But are these very serious allegations credible—or a red herring? Read my column on the latest twist in the Russiagate tale.

—Eli Lake

Tune In Today: Haviv Rettig Gur Live at 12:30 p.m. ET

In case you missed the news, Haviv Rettig Gur has joined The Free Press as a Middle East analyst. Tune in for his first Q&A livestream later today. At 12:30 p.m. ET, Haviv will take questions from Free Press readers in a conversation on the subject of public sentiment in Israel. He’ll take us inside the mind of the average Israeli citizen, including how decades of war, intifadas, political upheaval, and broken hopes have shaped public opinion in the Jewish State about this latest conflict.

If you want to understand Israel today—not just its political leadership, but its people—this is essential viewing. Paid subscribers can add the livestream to their calendars, and submit questions for Haviv.

• Speaker Mike Johnson announced he was cutting the House’s session short and commencing Congressional summer vacation early on Tuesday. The House was supposed to be at work through Thursday, but Johnson is keen to avoid a vote on releasing files related to Jeffrey Epstein. “We’re done being lectured on transparency,” said Johnson, as Democrats vowed to force through a vote.

• The U.S. will withdraw from the United Nations’ cultural organization, UNESCO, at the end of next year, the State Department announced yesterday. The Biden administration had decided to rejoin in 2023, following the first Trump administration’s decision to withdraw in 2017. The State Department accused UNESCO of promoting “divisive social and cultural causes” and a “globalist, ideological agenda.”

• Heavy metal legend Ozzy Osbourne died at the age of 76 yesterday. The Black Sabbath lead singer had been battling Parkinson’s disease and performed his final show, reuniting with his Black Sabbath bandmates, on July 5.

• General Motors reported a 35 percent decrease in net income during the second quarter on Tuesday. The fall was fueled by the Trump administration’s automotive tariffs, which cost the company $1.1 billion in the quarter.

• Some 230,000 files related to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. have been released, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced on Monday. In January, President Trump signed an executive order directing the government to declassify records on the assassinations of King, President John F. Kennedy, and Senator Robert F. Kennedy.

• A USA Today analysis has found that stock sales by top Trump administration officials were clustered in the days directly ahead of Trump’s major tariff announcements. Ninety percent of sales reported by administration officials through April, which includes cabinet secretaries, occurred within 10 days of the announcements.

• The Justice Department said yesterday that it had contacted Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s former accomplice, to request a meeting. The White House also removed The Wall Street Journal from its press pool covering Trump’s trip to Scotland, after Trump sued the Journal over its report last week on his alleged “bawdy” 2003 letter to Epstein.