(CNN) The optics were of a first lady fed up with reports and speculation she believes falsely link her to Epstein. But she was not speaking in a vacuum. Her personal position is complicated by her proximity to her husband, who leads an administration accused by Epstein victims of silencing their voices. The first lady’s speech, which lasted just under six minutes, was confined to the Epstein controversy. But its implications will go far beyond the issue, since she chose a moment of huge political vulnerability for her husband to go public.

(Daily Beast) The lawyer for a woman who accused Donald Trump of sexually assaulting her when she was a child is calling on the president to testify under oath. Lisa Bloom represents the woman who claimed that Jeffrey Epstein introduced her to Trump in 1984, when she was about 13 years old. An FBI report released as part of the Epstein files revealed the woman told interviewers in 2019 that Trump had forced her to perform a sexual act on him.

(Mediaite) Troops in Kuwait who survived the deadliest Iranian attack on U.S. forces since the war began told CBS News that the Pentagon wasn’t being truthful with its description of events. Six U.S. Army Reserve service members lost their lives when an Iranian drone struck a tactical operations center in Kuwait on March 1. Additionally, more than 20 soldiers were wounded. CBS News spoke to some of the survivors who detailed the attack that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed was the result of an anomalous “squirter” drone that just happened to get through the fortified unit inside Kuwait. One injured soldier told CBS News, “Painting a picture that ‘one squeaked through’ is a falsehood.

(Salon) “Make it stop,” said the voice on the other end of the phone in the tone of someone weary from emotional pain, or maybe under the influence of opioids. Could be both. I’d asked him about President Trump’s Truth Social post that began by declaring “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” “I haven’t had my morning coffee,” he continued, “my wife has a doctor’s appointment and I haven’t had a day off from this mess in two weeks.” Those symptoms describe many who live in the United States, but then he said, “The fact that I voted for this dumb**s makes it hurt more.” The fact that the person on the other end of the phone is a ranking Republican member of Congress made that statement even more poignant.

(Raw Story) Donald Trump promised to cut Americans' electricity bills in half within his first year and a half in office, but in ruby red West Virginia, some residents are now getting hit with monthly electric bills bigger than their paychecks. Rebecca Michalski, a disabled woman on a fixed income in Rainelle, West Virginia, opened her February electric bill to find a charge of $940.08, more than her monthly check, The Associated Press reported Thursday. She keeps one energy-efficient lamp on at night and turns the lights off during the day. She took out a loan after receiving a cut-off notice during an arctic blast.

(Slate) On a stage in Budapest, Hungary, on Tuesday afternoon, Vice President J.D. Vance had a remarkable request for the Hungarian people: reelect a dictator. ... Vance knows that country’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, has fostered rampant corruption, curtailed the independence of the country’s judiciary, attacked its universities’ academic freedom, spread antisemitic conspiracy theories, and promoted racial homogeneity. But Vance had one major justification for flying to Europe to personally campaign for Orbán’s reelection, as Orbán flags in the polls: Orbán was the United States’ partner in morality.

(The Atlantic) Service in wartime has long been a reliable path for Americans denied full citizenship to secure their rights. Black troops’ contributions to the Union cause during the Civil War helped convince Abraham Lincoln of the righteousness of extending suffrage to Black men. Women’s work on the home front during World War I persuaded a reluctant Woodrow Wilson to urge passage of the Nineteenth Amendment as a “war measure.” The military’s repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was followed a few years later by the Supreme Court’s recognition of the marriage rights of same-sex couples. Perhaps the Trump administration is hoping the process works just as well in reverse.

(The Hill) The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is warning its employees that Friday’s paycheck could be their last until Congress acts to fund the department and end the record-long partial shutdown — but questions remain over whether that warning extends to Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers. TSA employees last week began receiving back pay after President Trump signed a March 27 executive order directing the DHS to find funds to compensate them for their unpaid work since the shutdown began Feb. 14. The TSA workers have been a critical factor in the shutdown negotiations.

(Salon) Relations between Pope Leo XIV and the Trump administration are under intense scrutiny this week following reports of a contentious January meeting between a Vatican envoy and Defense Department officials. The meeting came after the pope directly addressed the U.S. war in Iran during his State of the World speech in January. In his speech, the pope warned of “escalating tensions” worldwide. War is back in vogue, and a zeal for war is spreading,” he said.

(NBC News) The Trump administration is finalizing a report that casts the Biden Justice Department as anti-Christian over its enforcement of laws protecting abortion clinics and enforcement of Covid regulations, among other issues, according to details of the report viewed by NBC News. The report stems from a Justice Department-led task force that aims to “eradicate anti-Christian bias” formed after an executive order President Donald Trump signed in February 2025.