Russia’s leadership is suffering “friction and confusion” since the Wagner mercenary group’s mutiny last month, but the impact it is having on front lines in Ukraine is still uncertain, the United States’ top general said on Thursday. General Mark Milley descibed “a lot of drama” at senior levels within the regime after Yevgeny Prigozhin led the mercenary group to capture Rostov-on-Don and then begin to drive to Moscow before the assault on the capital was defused in a deal ostensibly brokered by Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko. Mr Prigozhin has said the mutiny was not aimed at overthrowing the government but at “bringing to justice” the army and defense chiefs for their “blunders and unprofessional actions”. “At the strategic level it is pretty clear that you have a significant amount of friction and confusion,” General Milley told a small group of reporters traveling with him in Asia. Also on Thursday, a senior Russian general who was fighting in Ukraine said he was dismissed from his position after he accused the military’s leadership of betraying his troops with a lack of support. Read More Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin ‘dead or in prison’ after Putin meeting, former US commander claims Russian general says he has been fired for telling truth about dire situation on Ukraine frontlines What to know about the harrowing Ukraine war doc '20 Days in Mariupol'

Lawyers for the president’s son Hunter Biden sent Donald Trump a cease-and-desist letter on Thursday, alleging that the former president’s frequent hostile comments about Mr Biden are defamatory and likely to inspire violence. “We are just one such social media message away from another incident,” the letter, obtained by Law360, claims, citing the violent attack on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband as a cautionary tale of the dangers of online rhetoric. “You should make it clear to Mr Trump – if you have not done so already – that Mr Trump’s words have caused harm in the past and threaten to do so again if he does not stop,” the letter adds. The letter points to recent examples of Mr Trump’s aggressive statements about Mr Biden, such as a March social media post allegedly implying Mr Biden should get a “death sentence” and July message claiming cocaine found in the White House “was for use by Hunter”. The letter claims such provocations could inspire one of Mr Trump’s “easy-to-trigger followers.” Donald Trump’s lawyers Joe Tacopina declined to comment when contacted by The Independent. In June, Mr Biden reached a tentative agreement with federal prosecutors to plead guilty to two misdemeanour counts of failing to pay taxes and to admit the facts of a gun charge in exchange for likely avoiding jail time. The plea still needs to be approved by a federal judge, and a hearing is scheduled for later this month. Republicans in Congress and beyond have alleged that Mr Biden is benefitting from his famous name to avoid harsher prosecution. During a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee this week with FBI Director Christopher Wray, GOP members sharply criticised the agency, alleging a political bias. “Here’s what the American people know and believe about the FBI today, sir,” Rep Wesley Hunt told Mr Wray. “If you are a Trump, you will be prosecuted. If you are a Biden, you will be protected.” “I obviously disagree with your description of the two standards,” the FBI director said in response. “In my view, at least under my watch, we have one standard. And that is we’re going to pursue the facts wherever they lead, no matter who likes it. Read More Trump news – live: Hunter Biden lawyer warns Trump over ‘inciting violence’, as Kushner testifies over Jan 6 Secret Service ends probe into mysterious bag of cocaine found in White House: ‘No fingerprints or DNA’ GOP lawmaker compares Hunter Biden to glitter: ‘You cannot get rid of him. We’re sick of it’ GOP lawmaker compares Hunter Biden to glitter: ‘You cannot get rid of him’ FBI director set to clash with Republicans on the Trump case, Hunter Biden and more Gal Luft claimed he had dirt on the Bidens – now he’s facing charges

President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Thursday allowing the Pentagon to tap an additional 3,000 military reservists to support the US mission in Europe to bolster Nato amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. The additional troops will join the estimated 100,000 US service members already on the European continent. "These authorities will enable the department to better support and sustain its enhanced presence and level of operations,” Lt Gen Douglas Sims told Military.com of the move. The current US mission in Europe, dubbed Atlantic Resolve, began in 2014, as Russia annexed Crimea and put pressure on Ukraine’s Donbas region, a prelude to its wider invasion in 2022. So far, the US has sent more than $76bn in aid to Ukraine, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, more than $46bn of which has been military-related. The additional US forces came as President Biden made a high-profile swing through Europe for Nato summit in Lithuania on Wednesday. On Thursday, speaking from Helsinki, Mr Biden reiterated US support for Nato. “There’s overwhelming support from the American people. There’s overwhelming support from the members of the Congress, both House and Senate, in both parties,” he said, though he conceded “some extreme elements” of the Republican Party feel differently. The previous day, Mr Biden voiced his awe at the “unbroken” people of Ukraine,” who had shown “incredible dignity” in the face of Russia aggression. “One country cannot be allowed to seize his neighbour territory by force,” Mr Biden said. The US visit to Europe was not without its complications. Shortly before the Nato summit, Mr Biden threw cold water on the idea of Ukraine joining the defensive organisation in the near term. “I don’t think there is unanimity in Nato about whether or not to bring Ukraine into the Nato family now, at this moment, in the middle of a war,” he told CNN last week. The president also said that Ukraine would need to make reforms in terms of “democratization” before joining the alliance. Read More Thousands of Ukraine civilians are being held in Russian prisons. Russia plans to build many more Marjorie Taylor Greene’s antics show that the 2024 election will be about America’s role in the world Pentagon says cluster munitions have arrived in Ukraine The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

A number of Republican-led states spent their most recent legislative sessions relaxing child labour laws — while one state is already experiencing a rise in child labour cases. A report from WFTV in Orlando published Wednesday suggests that central Florida is already seeing a spike in child labour cases that dates back to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. The nature of the cases reportedly range in scope and seriousness from having children working too many hours on school days to operating heavy machinery and beyond. “From [fiscal years] 2020 until 2022, we have seen more child labor that we had seen from 2011 to 2020,” Department of Labor District Director Wildalí De Jesús told WFTV. The Covid pandemic began in 2020 and upended the labour market — causing the service economy to contract and then leaving a number of employers without adequate staff when lockdown measures were relaxed and consumption habits returned to pre-pandemic levels. Still, the data shows an alarming trend in the illegal exploitation of minors in the workforce at a time when states across the country are working to roll back child labour laws that are a longstanding legacy of the children’s rights and labour movements. Already this year, numerous GOP-led states including Missouri, Ohio, Arkansas, and Iowa have passed laws weakening child labour laws — allowing companies to hire children without work permits and making it legal for them to working longer hours in more dangerous conditions. The push to weaken child labour laws has reportedly been led by a Florida-based think tank, the Foundation for Government Accountability, which drafted the model legislation for states to use to roll back their child labour protections. The data from Florida is not entirely clear on several points, including how many of the children in question are undocumented immigrants. In her comments to WFTV, Ms De Jesús said parents are not always in a position to know the exact details of the work their children are doing and how it aligns with child labour law. “We’re seeing a trend of much younger children… because sometimes the children don’t know what they’re supposed to do or not supposed to do,” Ms De Jesús told the television station. “A lot of times parents don’t know either. They may assume that it’s safe or that [the child is] working the correct hours and that there’s no limitations, but there are.” Earlier this year, the Department of Labor reported a 68 per cent increase in the number of children illegally employed by US companies since 2018. A number of those children may be undocumented migrants. Read More Wisconsin teen dies in sawmill accident in one of 14 states looking to roll back child labour laws

Federal prosecutors investigating Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election results have questioned his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, among other witnesses to see if the former president acknowledged he had lost. Mr Kushner testified in Washington DC last month, according to a report from The New York Times, and maintained that the former president believed the election was stolen, a source briefed on the matter said. It has also emerged that other key administration figures including Alyssa Farah Griffin and Hope Hicks were also questioned. Elsewhere, special counsel Jack Smith told a federal judge there is “no basis in law or fact” for indefinitely postponing the federal trial of Mr Trump and urged the court to proceed with jury selection in December. In a new court filing, Smith wrote that one of Trump’s legal arguments "borders on frivolous" and said there’s no evidence that waiting until after the 2024 presidential election would make the process any easier. Meanwhile, recent financial disclosure forms show Melania Trump was paid as much as $155,000 by a Super PAC linked to her husband for “event planning and consulting”. Read More Ron DeSantis rules out being Trump’s running mate: ‘I’m not a number two guy’ GOP lawmaker compares Hunter Biden to glitter: ‘You cannot get rid of him. We’re sick of it’ Trump sees democracy as ‘enemy territory’ says journalist who helped bring down Nixon Everything we know about Ray Epps, the man conservatives blame for the Capitol riot

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s obvious impatience over Nato’s slow-moving decision-making process has reportedly irritated US officials enough that they reconsidered Ukraine’s invitation to join the alliance. For months, Mr Zelensky has appealed to Nato leaders hoping they would accept his country’s application to join the alliance as they fight off Russian troops. But Nato countries have been reluctant – not wanting to rock the boat too much with Russia during the middle of the war. Then, after Nato countries failed to deliver a specific timeline to Mr Zelensky on Nato membership before the summit this week, Mr Zelensky’s frustration resulted in a more aggressive approach in the form of a tweet. “It’s unprecedented and absurd when time frame is not set neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine’s membership. While at the same time vague wording about "conditions" is added even for inviting Ukraine. It seems there is no readiness neither to invite Ukraine to NATO nor to make it a member of the Alliance,” Mr Zelensky wrote on Tuesday. “This means that a window of opportunity is being left to bargain Ukraine’s membership in NATO in negotiations with Russia. And for Russia, this means motivation to continue its terror.” He added: “Uncertainty is weakness. And I will openly discuss this at the summit.” Mr Zelensky’s strong message was a clear response to Nato’s unspecific and vague statement regarding Ukraine’s membership: “We will be in a position to extend an invitation to Ukraine when allies agree and conditions are met” However the Ukrainian’s message to Nato leaders left US officials feeling particularly “furious”, a source familiar with the situation told The Washington Post. Several US officials allegedly questioned whether the alliance should get rid of the passage which Mr Zelensky found “absurd”, The Post reported. The US has already given Ukraine more than $75bn in assistance. Most recently the Pentagon announced that they had sent the controversial cluster munitions to assist in Ukraine’s fight against Russia. Despite the hiccup, byy the end of the Nato summit on Wednesday, Mr Zelesnky had come to Nato’s accept decision calling it a “significant security victory” while still reiterating the preferred outcome would be an invitation to join Nato. Read More Pentagon says cluster munitions have arrived in Ukraine The Nato summit was not the triumph that Zelensky hoped it would be Nato could have sent a stronger signal on Ukraine’s future – Iain Duncan Smith Pentagon says cluster munitions have arrived in Ukraine Senators renew effort to bar future US withdrawal from Nato Republican senator should drop his 'irresponsible' protest and OK military nominees, Biden says

The House Ethics Committee has reportedly revived a probe into Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) regarding allegations of misconduct, as investigators have reportedly begun reaching out to witnesses. A witness from Florida told CNN they spoke with investigators recently about alleged “lobbying violations.” Other witnesses have also been contacted by the Ethics Committee, a source close to the matter told CNN. The Ethics Committee investigation is a continuation of their 2021 probe into Mr Gaetz’s alleged “misconduct” while serving as a representative. It is unclear what misconduct the witnesses were interviewed for, though the initial probe regarded sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, misuse of state identification records and bribery. Earlier this year, the Department of Justice (DOJ) declined to charge Mr Gaetz after a sex trafficking investigation that was deferred to them by the Ethics Committee upon request. Last year, an ex-associate of Mr Gaetz, Joel Greenberg, was sentenced to 11 years in prison after pleading guilty to six federal crimes, including sex trafficking of a minor. After the DOJ reached a conclusion, the Ethics Committee restored its own investigation. A spokesperson for Mr Gaetz directed The Independent to comments he made to CNN regarding the investigation. The Florida lawmaker said the investigation is “not something I’m worried about” adding that he’s “focused on the work.” “The Ethics Committee typically operates through leaks and so this is no surprise,” Mr Gaetz said. “But the Ethics Committee has never found me to be in violation of House rules, though they’ve been investigating me during my entire seven years in Congress.” He added: “It’s also funny that the one guy who doesn’t take the corrupt lobbyist and PAC money seems to be under the most Ethics investigation.” The committee’s decision to pursue the investigation by reaching out to witnesses marks the first time investigators have taken steps since the probe was revived. The Ethics Committee is currently led by Rep Michael Guest (R-MS). Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy declined to comment to CNN about the investigation claiming he doesn’t “know anything” regarding the details of it. Read More Gaetz and Boebert vow to force McCarthy into ‘monogamous relationship’ Matt Gaetz associate Joel Greenberg asks court to delay sentencing in trafficking case The debt limit vote signals the beginning of the end for Kevin McCarthy Matt Gaetz takes CPAC victory lap over sex trafficking probe: ‘Vindication looks pretty good on me’

Federal prosecutors investigating Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election results have questioned his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, among other witnesses to see if the former president acknowledged he had lost. Mr Kushner testified in Washington DC last month, according to a report from The New York Times. During his testimony, the former president’s son-in-law maintained that Mr Trump believed the election was stolen, a source briefed on the matter said. Other people close to Mr Trump, including Alyssa Farah Griffin, the former White House director of strategic communications, and Hope Hicks, the former White House communications director were questioned as well. More follows Read More Zelensky’s Nato tweet infuriated US officials so much they reconsidered, report says Trump 2020 election interference probe hears from Michigan official – live California still has an anti-gay marriage law on the books. Voters could remove it next year

Evan Gershkovich appeared tense as he paced back and forth inside a glass cage in the Moscow City Court on 22 June. Gershkovich, 31, had been arrested and detained in Yekaterinburg, Russia, nearly three months earlier on 29 March on suspicion of espionage while on assignment for The Wall Street Journal. Wearing a black T-shirt and light blue jeans, Gershkovich was briefly paraded before cameras inside the courtroom box known as an “aquarium”, a relic of Soviet show trials. After the media was ushered out, he chatted to his parents in the public gallery while waiting for a judge to rule on an appeal challenging his pre-trial detention, according to an Associated Press report. The appeal was quickly dismissed, and Gershkovich was returned to the feared Lefortovo prison where he has reportedly been kept in solitary confinement since his arrest. “Evan continued to show remarkable strength and resiliency in these very difficult circumstances,” US Ambassador Lynne Tracy, who was present in court, told reporters afterward. Now in his fourth month in captivity on charges that have been widely condemned as spurious and politically motivated, diplomatic efforts to secure Gershkovich’s release are intensifying. On Thursday 13 July, President Joe Biden confirmed that US officials were in talks with their Russian counterparts to secure a prisoner swap for Gershkovich. “I’m serious about doing all we can to free Americans being illegally held in Russia or anywhere else for that matter,” Mr Biden said during a press conference in Helsinki. “And that process is underway.” In the meantime, Gershkovich’s contact with the outside is limited to a handful of visits from family, US officials and advocates, and weekly letters to his sister and close friends. The Federal Security Service (FSB), Russia’s top security agency and successor organisation to the KGB, has claimed that Gershkovich had been caught collecting information on “the activities of one of the enterprises of the military defence complex”. The Journal, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and the US Congress have denied the allegations and demanded his immediate release. The State Department has since designated Gershkovich as “wrongfully detained”, allowing its Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs to lead the case for his release. Who is Evan Gershkovich? The son of Jewish immigrants from the Soviet Union who grew up speaking Russian at home in Princeton, New Jersey, Gershkovich graduated from the prestigious Bowdoin College in Maine. He later embarked on a career in the media and moved to Russia in late 2018, working for The New York Times, then The Moscow Times and then Agence France-Presse. In 2022, he joined the WSJ, where he began covering Russian affairs just a month before the invasion of Ukraine last year. The accomplished reporter “fell in love” with his parent’s homeland, according to the Journal. He was determined to tell important stories at a crucial juncture for the country, despite the risk. He would spend his weekends chatting to friends about news, politics and sport in saunas, and hanging out with punk bands in Moscow dive bars. At the time of his arrest, Gershkovich was reporting on the impact of sanctions on the Russian economy from the Ural mountains. His final report, published the day before his arrest, was headlined Russia’s Economy Is Starting to Come Undone. Gershkovich wrote that the Russian economy was feeling the heat of Western sanctions and faced a slowdown, adding that the government’s revenue was “being squeezed”. The arrest Evan Gershkovich was arrested in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg on spying charges, the FSB announced on 29 March. According to the Journal, Gershkovich texted a colleague at about 4pm that day to say he had just arrived at a steakhouse in the city. The first sign of trouble came in a vague Telegram post that FSB agents had arrested a diner at a restaurant in the city. Concerned colleagues tried desperately to reach Gershkovich. The next day, the FSB said it had “stopped the illegal activities” of a US citizen it identified as “Gershkovich Evan... who is suspected of spying in the interests of the American government”. Images on Russian state media showed the journalist being led from the restaurant surrounded by plain clothes FSB officers. The FSB claimed Gershkovich had been tasked “by the American side” with gathering information about “the activities of one of the enterprises of the military defence complex”, believed to refer to a factory, although the FSB declined to name the facility or its exact location or provide any documentary or video evidence of Gershkovich’s guilt. The journalist had reportedly been visiting Nizhny Tagil, the site of Russian battle tank producer Uralvagonzavod, according to Russian news website Meduza, which is based in Latvia. Dozens of companies producing weapons are based in the city. Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova claimed that Gershkovich’s activities in Yekaterinburg were “not related to journalism”. The arrest sent a chill through other western journalists based in Russia. The Kremlin’s bullish spokesman Dmitry Peskov said other journalists working in Russia could remain provided they had the right credentials, adding: “Those carrying out normal journalistic activity will obviously keep working, if they have proper accreditation. There will be no problems with that.” What an authoritarian regime chooses to consider “normal journalistic activity” or otherwise, however, is open to question. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, many foreign journalists have pulled out of the country, particularly after Vladimir Putin’s administration enacted laws to punish anyone who discredits its forces taking part in the conflict. The State Department had repeatedly advised all Americans to leave Russia. Of the foreign correspondents still operating from Moscow, many remain uncertain about where precisely the line is, but saying anything critical about the Russian military or the economy being in a state of decline appears to carry a severe risk. Punishment without crime The detained journalist made his first court appearance at a closed hearing on 30 March, where he was ordered held in pre-trial detention until 29 May. Daniil Berman, a lawyer representing Gershkovich, said he would be taken to Lefortovo, the 19th century central Moscow jail notorious for torture and executions during Soviet-era purges. When Josef Stalin began the “Great Terror” of mass arrests in the 1930s, Lefortovo was one of the main holding centres for designated “enemies of the people”. Prominent former inmates at the prison included members of the attempted 1991 coup d'état, and Alexander Litvinineko, the Russian dissident who was poisoned by FSB agents with polonium-210 in London in 2006. “Lefortovo is the most isolated place to be, and this is the torture,” Litvinenko’s wife Marina told the Journal in April. Gershkovich pleaded not guilty to the espionage charges, but as the case was marked “top secret”, authorities have still not produced any evidence against him. Most espionage trials are carried out in secret in Russia, and almost always result in conviction. The Journal said it was “deeply concerned” for his safety and that it “vehemently denies the allegations from the FSB and seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter”. The White House echoed those sentiments, saying in a statement that the “targeting of American citizens by the Russian government is unacceptable”. It added: “We condemn the detention of Mr Gershkovich in the strongest terms. We also condemn the Russian government’s continued targeting and repression of journalists and freedom of the press.” Asked on 31 March about the matter, US President Joe Biden urged Russia to release Gershkovich. “Let him go,” he told reporters in Washington when asked if he had a message for the Kremlin. A Russian state prison monitor, Alexei Melnikov, revealed on 3 April that Gershkovich was in a quarantine cell while undergoing medical checks, had been reading a book from the prison library and had access to a TV, radio and refrigerator. On 4 April, lawyers were allowed to see the defendant for the first time. “Evan’s health is good, and he is grateful for the outpouring of support from around the world. We continue to call for his immediate release,” WSJ’s editor-in-chief, Emma Tucker, said in a note to her newsroom, adding that the newspaper was encouraged by the visit. Gershkovich’s family, she said, “are relieved to know we finally have contact with Evan.” His first meeting with a US official following his detention came on 17 April when Ambassador Tracy was granted access. “He is in good health and remains strong,” she told reporters after her meeting. On 18 April, Gershkovich appeared at a hearing on his appeal, where the Moscow City Court upheld his detention. Appearing before cameras inside the “aquarium”, Gershkovich smiled and appeared to be in good spirits. His wrists bore marks showing he appeared to have been kept in handcuffs. The court denied requests to grant Gershkovich bail, move him to another jail or put him on house arrest. On 23 May, Russian media reported that Gershkovich’s detention had been extended until 30 August. The court hearing where that decision was made had not been announced in advance and details remain scant. The next week, a Russian court upheld his pre-trial detention until at least 30 August. “Although the outcome was expected, it is no less an outrage that his detention continues to be upheld,” the Journal said in a statement at the time. The US House of Representatives has since passed a bipartisan resolution calling for Gershkovich’s immediate release. Potential prisoner swap As Gershkovich spent his 100th day in prison on 7 July, officials in both the United States and Russia confirmed they had been in talks about a possible prisoner swap. “We are prepared to do hard things in order to get our citizens home, including getting Evan home,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said. “I do not want to give false hope.” His comments came two days after Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed talks had been going on behind the scenes. “We have said that there have been certain contacts on the subject, but we don’t want them to be discussed in public,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters, according to the Associated Press. “They must be carried out and continue in complete silence.” The AP noted that Russian officials had carried out consular visits with Vladimir Dunaev, a Russian citizen in US custody on cybercrime charges. Hopes were raised further on 13 July, when President Biden said he was seriously considering a prisoner exchange during a joint press conference with Finnish president Sauli Niinistö in Helsinki. Gershkovich’s sister Danielle, speaking at a panel discussion at the National Press Club in Washington DC on 13 July, said she received a letter from her brother about once a week. “I’m so proud of him…I don’t know how he’s staying so brave,” Ms Gershkovich said. Speaking to ABC News this month, Gershkovich’s parents Mikhail Gershkovich and Ella Milman said that Mr Biden had promised to do “whatever it takes” to bring their son home. The precedent Gershkovich’s arrest makes him the first American reporter to be arrested on espionage charges in Russia since 1986, when Nicholas Daniloff of The US News and World Report was arrested by the KGB. Daniloff was released without charge 20 days later in a swap for an employee of the Soviet Union’s UN mission, who had been arrested by the FBI, likewise on spying charges. But he is not the only American currently being held on spying charges by Russia. Former Marine and corporate security executive Paul Whelan was arrested on dubious espionage charges in 2018 and has since been convicted, although the US government and his family believe they are trumped-up and have called for his release. Brittney Griner was exchanged in December last year for arms dealer Viktor Bout after being jailed on spurious drug charges relating to the possession of cannabis vape oil. She has since called for Gershkovich’s release. Gershkovich is one of at least 59 American citizens wrongfully detained or held hostage abroad, according to the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation. The tributes The Reporters Without Borders group said it was “alarmed” by the arrest of Gershkovich and that it “looks like a retaliation measure of Russia against the United States”. Friends and colleagues were shocked by the news and took to social media to describe the defendant as a committed journalist, dismissing the allegations as bogus and ridiculous. “Journalism is not a crime,” they posted. Henry Foy, The Financial Times’ European diplomatic correspondent based in Brussels, tweeted: “Evan is an exemplary foreign correspondent, a brilliant reporter and a wonderful, kind-hearted friend.” Joshua Yaffa, a Russia-Ukraine reporter for The New Yorker, posted: “Evan was not unaware or naïve about the risks. It’s not like he was in Russia because no one bothered to tell him it was dangerous. He is a brave, committed, professional journalist who travelled to Russia to report on stories of import and interest.” Oliver Carroll, a foreign correspondent for The Economist and formerly of The Independent, tweeted that he hopes Gershkovich’s bravery “carries through in these very dark hours. It’s something you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy. Let alone Evan, who is one of the nicest guys in journalism.” Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary Biden says he’s ‘serious’ about prisoner exchange with Russia for Wall Street Journal reporter Blinken says WSJ reporter 'wrongfully detained' by Russia Biden adviser says US is pressing for the release of reporter who has spent 100 days in Russian jail Lawyers meet with jailed American reporter in Moscow prison

Cities including Phoenix and El Paso are expected to see an unusually long stretch of intense heat.

When Ray Epps, now 61, arrived in Washington DC in early January, 2021, he believed he was answering the call of his president. Mr Epps was one of the thousands of MAGA loyalists who believed former President Donald Trump's lie that the 2020 election had been stolen. He also thought he and a throng of conservative allies would protest the election's certification. The night before the Capitol riot on Jan 6, Mr Epps told a crowd of fellow Trump supporters that they should enter the Capitol. This exchange was caught on video. He did not call for violence, and later claimed that he was encouraging a peaceful protest inside the building. Nearly 900 people have been arrested for their participation in the failed insurrection that occurred the following day. Though Mr Epps is not among that number, he has nonetheless become the focus of a MAGA-world conspiracy theory placing the blame for the entire debacle squarely on his shoulders. Who is Ray Epps? Mr Epps is a former Marine who runs a wedding and event venue in Queen Creek, Arizona. He describes himself as a staunch conservative, and was a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump. Mr Epps went to Washington DC believing that the 2020 election had been stolen. Politico has reported that Mr Epps is a former Oath Keeper, the militant right-wing gang whose members are currently under investigation on seditious conspiracy charges. Since the Capitol riot, his life has been turned upside down by the very people he once marched alongside. The conspiracy theory After failing to pin the Capitol riot on Antifa, right-wing media outlets refocused their efforts to reshape their narrative around Mr Epps. According to the New York Times, obscure right-wing outlets like Revolver Media began reporting on selectively-edited videos of Mr Epps during the Capitol riot, and later capitalised on the footage from 5 January in which he called for people to enter the Capitol. The theory claims that Mr Epps, who was not arrested in the wake of the Capitol riot despite apparently encouraging people to enter the building and participating in the event himself, could only have evaded law enforcement if he was working with the government. To explain this apparent contradiction, outlets and conspiracy theorists decided that Mr Epps had to have been an FBI agent sent into the crowd to stir dissent and set up a "false flag" event meant to justify the incarceration of hundreds of Trump supporters. Larger right-wing media platforms, including Fox News' Tucker Carlson, picked up on the story, thrusting Mr Epps into the mainstream conservative consciousness. Republican lawmakers including Senator Ted Cruz and Representatives Thomas Massie, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Matt Gaetz leapt on the theory in their efforts to reframe the Capitol riot narrative. Mr Trump himself eventually signed onto the conspiracy theory, feeding the man who believed his lies into the right-wing conspiracy machine's ever hungry maw. What really happened? Days after the Capitol riot, Mr Epps learned that the FBI was treating him as a person of interest in its then nascent investigation into the riot. He immediately called the agency and agreed to call them to discuss what had happened. During their talks, Mr Epps insisted that he had remained peaceful and had instructed other rioters to do the same. Video footage that was eventually edited and used to suggest Mr Epps was inciting violence actually showed that he was trying to talk down other protesters who were getting angry. In one video, he tells another protester, Ryan Samsel, to relax and reminds him that the Capitol police were doing their jobs. According to the Times, Mr Samsel was questioned by the FBI and fully corroborated Mr Epps' version of events. “He came up to me and he said, ‘Dude’ — his entire words were, ‘Relax, the cops are doing their job,’” Mr Samsel told investigators. Further, Mr Epps was able to prove that he had left the Capitol before the violence began in earnest. A protester who had fallen ill required help away from the chaos, and Mr Epps volunteered to help lead them out. The fallout Since then, Mr Epps’ life has turned upside down. He has become a persona non grata in conservative circles due to his association with the conspiracy theory. After the conspiracy theory picked up steam, Mr Epps began receiving death threats and even had intruders trespass on his property. According to Mr Epps, those individuals approached him and demanded to know the "truth" about his supposed involvement with the FBI. He has had to leave his home in Arizona and is currently hiding out in an RV with his wife at an undisclosed location. Mr Epps told theTimes that he fears the direction the US is heading, and called what was done to him "criminal." “I am at the center of this thing, and it’s the biggest farce that’s ever been,” he said. “It’s just not right. The American people are being led down a path. I think it should be criminal.” Lawsuit In July 2023, Mr Epps filed a defamation lawsuit against Fox News and its former host, Tucker Carlson. Mr Epps filed the lawsuit in the Superior Court of Delaware, the same court in which Fox was given a $787.5m judgement to settle a separate defamation case brought by Dominion Voting Systems, the New York Times reports. Fox News has since sought to have the lawsuit moved to the Federal District Court in Wilmington. Mr Epps is seeking an unspecified amount in damages. The move comes after Mr Epps demanded in March that Fox News and Carlson retract their stories and issue on-air apologies to him. “Ray is taking the next steps to vindicate his rights by seeking accountability for Fox’s lies that have caused him and [his wife] Robyn so much harm,” his attorney, Michael Teter, told the Times. The lawsuit blames Fox News for spreading 2020 election fraud misinformation, painting Mr Epps as a loyal viewer who trusted the network’s commentary. “When Fox, through its on-air personalities and guests, told its audience that the 2020 election had been stolen, Epps was listening,” the complaint says. “He believed Fox. And when Epps kept hearing that Trump supporters should let their views be known on Jan. 6 in Washington D.C., Epps took that to heart.” It goes on further to claim that Fox News and Carlson made Mr Epps the “villain” of their stories, and said Carlson in particular became “fixated” on the former Marine. Read More Ray Epps sues Fox News and Tucker Carlson for ‘defamatory attacks’ after January 6 Trump 2020 election interference probe hears from Michigan official – live GOP lawmaker compares Hunter Biden to glitter: ‘You cannot get rid of him’ Trump 2020 election interference probe hears from Michigan official – live GOP lawmaker compares Hunter Biden to glitter: ‘You cannot get rid of him’ Russian lawmakers move to further restrict transgender rights in a new legislation

Police are currently searching a final area in a hamlet in the French Alps, before calling off the massive operation to locate missing two-year-old Emile. Local prosecutor Remy Avon said the previous searches did not yield any clues to solving the mystery of the boy’s disappearance and instead, investigators will be shifting their focus to evaluating evidence already gathered. He added: “The investigation into the causes of his disappearance will continue, notably through analysis of the considerable amount of information and elements gathered over four days.” Police are today combing a 1.8km-long road, that has previously been searched before, in the hope of finding new evidence in Emile’s disappearance. But police say they will be searching the stretch of road more “meticulously” this time. The search is expected to go on till 4pm local time, before it is halted on the sixth day since Emile vanished. Emile was last seen playing in the garden of a property in Le Vernet in the Alpes-de-Haute department of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, with his grandparents notifying the police of his disappearance at around 5.15pm local time on Saturday. Police added on Wednesday that at least 10 people were present at the property where Emile was last seen amidst a family reunion, with “several uncles and aunts of the child, of all ages, including some minors”, a police source said. Read More Desperate search for French toddler who vanished on holiday with grandparents Deadly plane crash, cafe murder and now missing toddler in the French village ‘cursed’ by tragedy