In a high-stakes Cabinet meeting held Tuesday at the White House, President Donald J. Trump tackled a range of pressing national and international issues — including the catastrophic flooding in Texas, new intelligence on Russia’s battlefield conduct, and fresh controversy surrounding the death of convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

The meeting, Trump’s sixth Cabinet assembly this year, began with remarks focused on the administration’s swift emergency response to the deadly Texas floods, before pivoting to a series of pointed questions from the press.

One reporter pressed the president on disturbing reports that Russian forces in Ukraine are now deploying chemical weapons. Dutch and German intelligence agencies allege that Russian troops have launched drones equipped with choking agents to flush Ukrainian soldiers from trenches — a potential war crime under international law.

When asked for his view on the matter, President Trump turned to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

“Do you know about this, Pete?” Trump asked calmly.

“John might know,” Hegseth responded, referring to CIA Director John Ratcliffe.

“I’d ask John, maybe, to discuss it, if you’d like,” Trump said, deferring to Ratcliffe.

Ratcliffe responded clearly:

“Mr. President, obviously, chemical weapons – if it’s documented and it’s used – it’s illegal,” he said. “It’s against all international laws of armed conflict and treaties… Obviously, you’re not gonna stand or allow for any violations of international law by anyone.”

“That’s right,” Trump affirmed. “Thank you.”

The room then turned tense when the topic shifted to the Department of Justice’s controversial memo on Jeffrey Epstein — a memo critics say attempts to close the case with a whitewash.

Attorney General Pam Bondi was asked why federal investigators claim there is “no incriminating ‘client list’” and “no credible evidence … that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals,” despite years of speculation, sworn testimony, and leaked flight logs suggesting otherwise.

The question became even sharper: “Could you say why there was a minute missing from the jailhouse tape on the night of his death?”

Bondi defended her earlier public remarks:

“In February, I did an interview on FOX. It’s been getting a lot of attention because I said — I was asked a question about the client list. My response was, it’s sitting on my desk to be reviewed. Meaning the file along with the J.F.K. and M.L.K. Files. That’s what I meant.”

On the missing surveillance footage, Bondi confirmed the Department of Justice released hallway video from Epstein’s final night at the now-shuttered Metropolitan Correctional Center.

“The video was not conclusive, but the evidence prior to it was showing he committed suicide,” she stated.

But skeptics aren’t buying it.

Just hours after the footage was made public, sharp-eyed analysts on social media noticed a critical red flag: a full minute is missing. The timestamp jumps from 11:58:59 PM directly to 11:59:59 PM, entirely omitting the 59 seconds in between — seconds that could hold answers to one of the most suspicious deaths in modern American history.

Online outrage exploded almost immediately, as calls for an independent investigation intensified. Many conservatives are demanding that the full, unedited footage be released — and that Attorney General Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel come clean.

With global tensions rising, domestic scandals brewing, and America still recovering from years of deception under the Biden administration, President Trump remains steady at the helm in his second term — focused on transparency, law and order, and restoring faith in government.