The Headlines - M.L.K. Files Released, and Troops Are Withdrawing From California

Episode Date: July 22, 2025

Plus, the missing child case that changed America.On Today’s Episode:Trump Releases Thousands of Martin Luther King Jr. Files, by Rick Rojas and Glenn ThrushJohnson Retreats on Demand for Epstein Disclosures, Saying Trump Needs ‘Space’, by Annie KarniJudge Sentences Ex-Officer in Breonna Taylor Raid to Nearly 3 Years in Prison, by Glenn ThrushMarines Will Begin Withdrawing From Los Angeles, by Shawn Hubler and Eric SchmittConviction Reversed in Etan Patz Case That Put Focus on Missing Children, by Hurubie Meko and Jonah E. BromwichMalcolm-Jamal Warner, Theo Huxtable on ‘The Cosby Show,’ Dies at 54, by Derrick Bryson Taylor and Matt StevensTune in every weekday morning. To get our full audio journalism and storytelling experience, download the New York Times Audio app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.Tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. 

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today is Tuesday, July 22nd. Here's what we're covering. The Trump administration released a massive collection of documents related to the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. yesterday, posting more than a quarter million pages to the National Archives website.

The document dump came as President Trump and White House officials had been trying to divert attention from demands to release files related to Jeffrey Epstein. The administration framed the release of the King files as an act of transparency. I was part of a team of reporters who went through all the records and talked to historians to try to figure out the significance of it all. And the big takeaway is it doesn't seem like there's very much there. My colleague Rick Rojas says many of the pages are almost impossible to read because they're so old or because of how they were digitized.

There are news clippings, tips from the public, and some random details about King's killer James Earl Ray, including how he took dance classes and pulled aliases from James Bond novels. What wasn't included is something that historians and others who've been following this history have been waiting years for, which are the FBI wiretaps and other findings from government surveillance into Dr. King. These tapes and transcripts, which are under seal until 2027, could reveal more about Dr. King's personal life, including extramarital affairs and other behavior that might be seen

now as scandalous. But it could also just show the intensity with which federal investigators probed into his life and tried to use whatever they could as leverage in their campaign to derail him and the broader civil rights movement. While running for office, Trump vowed to release files related to King's assassination, as well as the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert F. Kennedy. Their deaths have all long been the subject of conspiracy theories. In March, the administration released the JFK files. They also contained almost no new information about his death.

Meanwhile, So, here's what I would say about the Epstein files. There is no daylight between the House Republicans, the House and the President on maximum transparency. House Speaker Mike Johnson now says that lawmakers will not vote this summer on a resolution calling for the Justice Department to release the Epstein files. It's a retreat from his position just last week that the material must be made public. It's a very delicate subject, but we should put everything out there and let the people decide it.

I mean, the White House and the White House... Those comments made on a podcast marked a rare break between Johnson and the president. Now though, Johnson's moving on, as President Trump has urged his followers to do. Trump seemed to appease his hard-right base somewhat by calling for the release of selections of grand jury testimony related to Epstein. But it's unclear if that will completely satisfy their calls for transparency. In Kentucky, a federal judge sentenced a former Louisville police officer to nearly three years in prison on Monday for his role in the death of Breonna Taylor. Taylor was killed during a botched drug raid back in 2020 when police burst into her apartment in the middle of the night.

Her death fueled national outrage and protests over police violence against Black Americans. The former officer, Brett Hankison, shot 10 rounds through Taylor's window during the raid, though she was killed by other officers at the scene. He faced up to life in prison after being convicted of violating her civil rights, but the Trump administration urged the judge last week to sentence Hankison to just one day, signaling that the Justice Department is dropping its push to address racial disparities in policing.

I don't think it was a fair sentencing, but it was a start. Outside the courthouse, Taylor's mother said she was grateful that the judge, a Trump appointee, rejected the administration's request. We could have walked away with nothing according to what they recommended, so I'm just grateful for my friends. Hankison was the only officer to be charged for his actions the night of the raid, though a federal report later found that the Louisville police department had shown a pattern of discriminating against black residents, as well as other abusive behavior.

The Trump administration is scaling back the military presence in Los Angeles, announcing yesterday that it's withdrawing 700 Marines who were sent there as part of a larger military response after protests broke out over the president's immigration crackdown. Since June, the troops have mostly stood guard outside federal office buildings and accompanied immigration agents during raids. The Pentagon framed the operation, which cost an estimated $134 million, as a success, saying the troops prevented civil unrest. L.A.'s mayor, however, compared the deployment of the Marines, along with thousands of National Guard soldiers, to a quote, armed occupation. She and state officials have called for them all to be pulled back. Members of the National Guard deployed to LA told the Times that morale has been low. after raising objections to the mission. There's been a new turn in the case of Eitan Pates, the six-year-old boy whose

disappearance four decades ago changed how generations of American children were raised. I think that I was probably in the bathroom shaving when Atan went out the door. On May 25, 1979, Atan headed off to school, as his father described later to ABC News. The bus stop was less than two blocks from their house in Manhattan.

At some point in every parent's life, they send their children to school alone. Did we do it too early? Obviously we did. When Eitan disappeared, it triggered a frantic search. His picture went up on everything from billboards to milk cartons, and the story became a cautionary tale for parents across the country, who started limiting where their kids could go alone. His body was never found. More than three decades later, police arrested Pedro Hernandez, who worked at a bodega near the Pates family home. Though there was no

scientific evidence linking Hernandez to the crime, after seven hours of police questioning, he confessed to killing Aton. On Monday, however, a federal appeals court found that the original trial judge had minimized the fact that police didn't read Hernandez his Miranda rights before that initial confession and threw out his conviction. Lawyers for Hernandez, who's been in prison for 13 years, have argued that he had a history of severe mental illness and psychotic hallucinations and that the confession was false. The appeals court said that now a new trial must be held within a reasonable period of time, or Hernandez must be released. And finally, Malcolm Jamal Warner, who millions of Americans watched grow up on TV as Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show, has died at 54.

He drowned in Costa Rica after apparently being swept away by a strong current. Back in the 1980s... How do you expect to get into college with grades like this? No problem. See? I'm not going to college. Damn right. ...Warner nabbed the role of Theo on the Cosby show

after a nationwide search, and he worked on the sitcom from age 13 to 21, as it captured the everyday life of an upper-middle-class black family. The show was celebrated as an overdue corrective against negative stereotypes on TV, a legacy that Warner stood by even after the show's star, Bill Cosby, faced allegations of sexual assault. You'll always be Theo Huxtable, right? Sure, yeah.

I mean, that show holds such an importance because it really changed the scope of how Black America and white America and the world, for that matter, saw black people. Warner went on to work on dozens of other TV shows and films, including doing voice work on the Magic School Bus and acting in the medical drama, The Resident. He also performed as a bass player and wrote poetry. He earned a Grammy Award and another nomination for his spoken word performances, telling Billboard Magazine, quote,

I recognized with poetry and music that I had a different voice. There were things I wanted to express that I could not as an actor," adding, "...it was another avenue of expression that my soul needs." Those are the headlines. Today on The Daily, the Trump administration originally tried to thwart China's work in developing AI, why it's now reversed course and is helping the country compete. That's next in the New York Times audio app where you can listen wherever you get your

podcasts. I'm Tracy Mumford. We'll be back tomorrow. Transcribed by https://otter.ai