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      Trump news at a glance: Texas national guard arrive in Chicago area as Donald Trump increases pressure on city

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      Texas national guard troops have arrived in the Chicago area, marking an escalation of Donald Trump’s crackdown on the city.Chicago has already seen a ramping up of immigration enforcement in the past few weeks, as well as increasingly violent altercations in the suburb of Broadview, where law enforcement has been filmed deploying teargas and pepper gas against protesters.The latest military presence comes after April Perry, a US district judge, declined to immediately block troops from entering the city amid a pending lawsuit from the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago against the Trump administration’s actions.Texas national guard troops arrive in Chicago amid Trump’s crackdownKwame Raoul, the Illinois attorney general, had filed the lawsuit on Monday in order to stop Trump from enlisting the state’s national guard or sending in troops from other states such as Texas “immediately and permanently”.But after Perry’s ruling, the troops were mobilized on Monday, and multiple outlets, including the Chicago Tribune and New York Times confirmed they were remaining in the Chicago area on Tuesday.Read the full storyUS supreme court appears poised to overturn Colorado ban on ‘conversion therapy’The US supreme court appeared ready to rule against a Colorado law that bans “conversion therapy” practices that seek to change minors’ sexual orientation or gender identity, repeatedly questioning the state over whether the law hindered free speech and whether these practices have been proven harmful.The high-stakes case could roll back the rights of LGBTQ+ youth across the country. Colorado is one of more than 20 states in the US that have banned conversion practices, and a ruling in favor of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a Christian legal group, could make those laws vulnerable to similar challenges.Read the full storyWhite House says furloughed federal workers not entitled to back pay amid shutdownThe White House’s office of management and budget (OMB) is arguing that federal workers who are furloughed amid the ongoing government shutdown are not entitled to back pay.In a draft memo first obtained by Axios, OMB argued that an amendment to the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act (GEFTA) of 2019 would not guarantee furloughed workers back pay and that said funds must be set aside by Congress.Read the full storyPam Bondi and Senate Democrats spar amid Trump’s troop deploymentsDemocratic senators sparred with attorney general Pam Bondi over her handling of the Epstein files and Donald Trump’s nationwide deployments of national guard at a bitterly partisan Senate hearing on Tuesday.Bondi’s appearance before the Senate judiciary committee was her first since being confirmed in February, and comes as the president steps up his crackdown on political opponents and Democratic-run cities nationwide.Read the full storyMarjorie Taylor Greene open to healthcare deal with Democrats amid shutdownRepublican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has indicated she is willing to negotiate with Democrats over healthcare insurance costs – the central political issue that has kept the US government shut down since 1 October.Indicating that she is willing to stand against her party on the issue, Greene said Monday night in a post on the social platform X that she’s “absolutely disgusted” insurance premiums could double if a system of tax credits dating back to Barack Obama’s presidency is allowed to expire at the end of the year.Read the full storyTrump says there is ‘natural conflict’ with Canada during Carney visitDonald Trump said there is “mutual love” but “natural conflict” between the US and Canada as he hailed progress towards a trade deal but offered few concrete concessions on steep US tariffs during a visit by the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney.Read the full storyLaura Loomer cautions Trump on idea of Ghislaine Maxwell pardon: ‘Do not do it’A noncommittal response from Donald Trump over whether he would pardon convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell provoked a response from the president’s staunch ally and far-right influencer Laura Loomer.“Do not do it,” Loomer wrote on X, tagging Trump, JD Vance and Pam Bondi, the US attorney general. “I repeat. Do not do it. There will be no coming back from that. I repeat again. For the love of God. Do Not Do It.”Read the full storyWhat else happened today:

      CBS News staffers are coming to terms with the news that controversial commentator Bari Weiss is their new editor-in-chief, as the storied network’s owner Paramount Skydance acquires her Substack-based publication the Free Press in a reported $150m deal.

      Major US airports continued to see flight delays on Tuesday as air traffic control facilities struggle to maintain staffing amid the federal government shutdown.

      Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, toured the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) facility in Portland, Oregon, on Tuesday, getting a first-hand look at a small protest outside.

      Donald Trump ordered the approval of a proposed 211-mile road through an Alaska wilderness to allow mining of copper, cobalt, gold and other minerals.
      Catching up? Here’s what happened 6 October 2025. More

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      Mamdani attends Israelis for Peace vigil after his 7 October statement draws ire from Israel

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      The New York City Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday evening attended a vigil in Manhattan convened by Israelis for Peace, an anti-occupation group of Israelis in New York who have rallied weekly since 2023 to call for a ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages.Sitting in Union Square alongside New York City comptroller Brad Lander, his one-time rival for the Democratic nomination who has been campaigning for him, Mamdani listened as speakers at the event – which marked the two-year anniversary of the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel – called for an end to the killing and to Israel’s occupation, and for equal rights for Palestinians.Earlier in the day, Mamdani drew ire from Israel over his statement on the anniversary in which he commemorated both the Israeli victims from that day and Palestinian victims from Israel’s ensuing war on Gaza.“Two years ago today, Hamas carried out a horrific war crime, killing more than 1,100 Israelis and kidnapping 250 more. I mourn these lives and pray for the safe return of every hostage still held and for every family whose lives were torn apart by these atrocities,” Mamdani said in the statement on Tuesday.He denounced Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his government for launching a “genocidal war” in Gaza as well. He also accused the US government of being “complicit”.“A death toll that now far exceeds 67,000; with the Israeli military bombing homes, hospitals, and schools into rubble,” Mamdani wrote. “Every day in Gaza has become a place where grief itself has run out of language. I mourn these lives and pray for the families that have been shattered.”He said the last two years had “demonstrated the very worst of humanity” and called for an end to Israeli “occupation and apartheid”.Mamdani’s statement prompted a sharp rebuke from the Israeli foreign ministry on X, accusing him of “acting as a mouthpiece for Hamas propaganda” and “spreading Hamas’s fake genocide campaign”.“By repeating Hamas’s lies, he excuses terror and normalizes antisemitism. He stands with Jews only when they are dead. Shameful,” the post said.Israel stands widely accused of committing genocide in Gaza, where its ongoing military assault has killed tens of thousands of civilians, some 20,000 of them children, caused famine and mass starvation, and razed much of the Palestinian territory. Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant are wanted by the international criminal court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.Mamdani is no stranger to criticism for his views on the Israeli government and its war in Gaza, and the issue has proved a major flashpoint in the mayoral race.He has won significant support from certain segments of the Jewish community particularly among younger and more progressive voters, and faces stronger opposition from more conservative groups. A recent Marist poll found 35% of Jewish voters supported Mamdani, as does the same proportion supporting Cuomo. (The poll was taken before Eric Adams dropped out of the race.)The democratic socialist has faced criticism over his past refusal to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada”, which some view as a call to violence. He has since said he would discourage use of the phrase. He also recently reiterated his intention to order the NYPD to arrest Netanyahu should he travel to New York.His October 7 statement on Tuesday attracted pushback from other pro-Israel voices. David Frum, a writer at the Atlantic and former speechwriter for George W Bush, wrote on X: “The chilly formulaic language about the 10/7 atrocity … the intense angry passion of the denunciation of Israel’s self-defense … together they arrestingly reveal what the author cares about and what/who he does not care about.”Fox News anchor David Asman called the statement “obscene”. He wrote on X: “The ‘very worst of mankind’ is what Mamdani supporters are on the streets today celebrating…‘honoring’ the beasts responsible for Oct 7. He supports a ‘global intifada,’ responsible for 9/11 and Oct 7. He should not be mayor of a city hit so hard by Jihadists.”Noa Yachot contributed reporting More

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      White House says furloughed federal workers not entitled to back pay amid shutdown

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      The White House’s office of management and budget (OMB) is arguing that federal workers who are furloughed amid the ongoing government shutdown are not entitled to back pay.In a draft memo first obtained by Axios, OMB argued that an amendment to the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act (GEFTA) of 2019 would not guarantee furloughed workers back pay and that said funds must be set aside by Congress.“The legislation that ends the current lapse in appropriations must include express language appropriating funds for back pay for furloughed employees, or such payments cannot be made,” said Mark Paoletta, OMB’s general counsel, in a draft addressed to White House budget director Russell Vought, the Washington Post reported.The OMB previously revised a shutdown guidance document on Friday to remove reference to the GEFTA Act, reported Government Executive, a media site reporting on the US executive branch.Donald Trump previously signed GEFTA into law after the 2019 government shutdown, which lasted for 35 days. While many understood the law to automatically guarantee pay for federal workers, the White House’s OMB is arguing against that interpretation, suggesting that the law only created the conditions for back pay.Trump and other Republicans have not confirmed if workers would be paid when the government reopens. When asked about the White House’s stance on back payment for federal workers, Trump said “it depends who we’re talking about” during comments in the Oval Office on TuesdayTrump also added that he planned to announce additional government programs that will be permanently eliminated as the shutdown continues as well as possible layoffs, CNN reported.House speaker Mike Johnson said that federal workers affected by the shutdown should receive back pay, but noted that “some legal analysts [are] saying that [back payments] may not be appropriate or necessary, in terms of the law requiring that back pay be provided,” the Hill reported.Several Republicans have said that questions on back pay should put pressure on congressional Democrats to support a continuing resolution to reopen the government.Meanwhile, Democrats have slammed the reinterpretation of GEFTA as unlawful. Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, which is home to thousands of federal workers, said any suggestion of withheld back pay is “more fear mongering from a president who wants a blank check for lawlessness”.Senator Patty Murray of Washington, a top Democrat on the Senate appropriations committee, called the latest reinterpretation “lawless”. “They’re plotting to try and rob furloughed federal workers of backpay at the end of this shutdown,” said Murray during Senate floor remarks. “This flies in the face of the plain text of the law, which could not be more clear.”An estimated 750,000 federal workers have been furloughed during the federal government shutdown, now in its seventh day, the Post reported citing congressional bookkeepers. More

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      Bondi spars over Epstein but stays silent on Comey: takeaways from a tense hearing

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      In an often tense hearing before the Senate judiciary committee on Tuesday, the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, stood accused by Democrats of weaponizing the US Department of Justice, “fundamentally transforming” the department, and leaving “an enormous stain on American history” that it will take “decades to recover [from]”.Bondi criticized Democratic lawmakers in personal terms as she faced questions over the department’s enforcement efforts in Democratic-led cities, her mishandling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, and inquiries into Donald Trump’s political adversaries. Here are the key takeaways from Bondi’s appearance.1. Democrats criticized Trump’s weaponization of the justice departmentBondi faced questions about her tenure at the department, as Democratic senators condemned the Trump administration for weaponizing the DoJ to investigate and prosecute Trump’s political enemies.“Our nation’s top law-enforcement agency has become a shield for the president and his political allies when they engage in misconduct,” Dick Durbin said. Durbin called Lindsey Halligan, the new US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia, part of a “network of unqualified mega-loyalists masquerading as federal prosecutors”.“Attorney General Bondi: in eight short months, you have fundamentally transformed the justice department and left an enormous stain on American history. It will take decades to recover,” Durbin said.When asked by Amy Klobuchar whether she saw the president’s post on Truth Social, urging her to prosecute his political adversaries such as James Comey and Letitia James, as a “directive”, Bondi evaded the question.“President Trump is the most transparent president in American history,” Bondi said.She refused to “discuss personnel issues”, when Klobuchar asked about Bondi’s reported pushback to the president’s pressure campaign to remove Erik Siebert, Halligan’s predecessor. Bondi also refused to discuss the case against Comey, after Siebert said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute the former FBI director.Adam Schiff said that the department, under Bondi’s leadership, had become Trump’s “personal sword and shield to go after his ever growing list of political enemies and to protect himself, his allies and associates”.Schiff is a noted adversary of the president, and served on the House select committee that investigated the Capitol insurrection. Bondi snapped at him when she refused to answer questions about the allegations against Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, for allegedly accepting $50,000 in bribes before Trump took office: “Deputy attorney general [Todd] Blanche and [FBI] director [Kash] Patel said that there was no evidence that Tom Homan committed a crime, yet now you’re putting his picture up to slander him.“If you worked for me, you would have been fired,” Bondi continued. “Will you apologize to Donald Trump for trying to impeach him?”2. Bondi refused to discuss the arrest of James ComeyIn a line of questioning by Richard Blumenthal, Bondi refused to discuss or disclose any conversations she may have had with the president in the lead-up to the indictment of Comey last month. Blumenthal said Bondi attended a dinner with Donald Trump, just days before the former FBI director was criminally charged.Bondi instead pushed back against the Democratic senator from Connecticut. “I find it so interesting that you didn’t bring any of this up during President Biden’s administration, when he was doing everything to protect Hunter Biden, his son,” she said.3. Bondi and Durbin sparred over EpsteinDurbin grilled Bondi as to why she made a public claim that the Epstein “client list” was “sitting” on her desk for review earlier this year, only to “produce already public information and no client list”.Bondi pushed back, saying she had “yet to review” the documents, and reaffirmed that there was no Epstein client list.Bondi sparred with Durbin, questioning why he “refused repeated Republican requests to release the Epstein flight logs in 2023 and 2024”. Durbin said Bondi’s claims were not accurate.“I did not refuse. One of the senators here wished to produce those logs, and I asked her to put it in writing, and she never did,” Durbin said, apparently referring to his Republican colleague Marsha Blackburn.4. Republicans focused on ‘Arctic Frost’ revelationsPam Bondi said that Operation Arctic Frost – an intelligence-gathering effort that led to special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the plot to overturn the results of the 2020 election – was “an unconstitutional, undemocratic abuse of power”.On Monday, several Republican lawmakers said the FBI gathered phone records from Republican senators. These records were obtained through a grand jury. Republicans have called this move part of the wider pattern of political weaponization of the previous administration.“This is the kind of conduct that shattered the American people’s faith in our government,” Bondi said at the hearing. “Our FBI is targeting violent criminals, child predators and other law breakers, not sitting senators who happen to be from the wrong political party.”Republican Josh Hawley also chimed in. “I’ve heard them say that Joe Biden never targeted his political enemies,” he said. “Huh? That’s interesting, because I could have sworn that yesterday we learned that the FBI tapped my phone.”5. Bondi said ‘national guard are on the way to Chicago’In a heated exchange with Durbin, Bondi refused to answer a question about whether she was consulted about Trump’s decision to send national guard troops to Illinois – the state that Durbin represents.“You voted to shut down the government, and you’re sitting here. Our law enforcement officers aren’t being paid. They’re out there working to protect you,” Bondi said, after declining to discuss internal conversations with the White House.“I wish you loved Chicago as much as you hate President Trump. Currently the national guard are on the way to Chicago. If you’re not going to protect your citizens, President Trump will.” More

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      Six former US surgeons general warn RFK Jr is ‘endangering nation’s health’

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      Six former US surgeons general – the top medical posting in Washington – warned in an opinion column published on Tuesday that policy changes enacted by the health and human services (HHS) secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, are “endangering the health of the nation”.The surgeons general – Jerome Adams, Richard Carmona, Joycelyn Elders, Vivek Murthy, Antonia Novello and David Satcher – who served under both Republican and Democrat administrations, identified changes in vaccine policy, medical research funding, a shift in priorities from rationality to ideology, plunging morale, and changes to staffing as areas of concern.Referring to their oaths of office, both Hippocratic as physicians and as public servants, the former officials wrote in the Washington Post that they felt “compelled to speak with one voice to say that the actions of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are endangering the health of the nation”.“Never before have we issued a joint public warning like this. But the profound, immediate and unprecedented threat that Kennedy’s policies and positions pose to the nation’s health cannot be ignored,” they said, adding that they could not ignore the “profound, immediate and unprecedented threat” of his policies.Under a “Make America Healthy Again” (Maha) agenda, Kennedy has accelerated vaccine policy changes despite opposition from scientists, including narrowing eligibility for Covid-19 vaccine shots and dismissing members of a vaccine advisory panel.He has cut federal funding for mRNA vaccine research for respiratory illnesses and instituted a review of vaccine recommendations. Kennedy also sought the dismissal of Dr Susan Monarez, former head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Monarez testified before Congress last month that her firing by Donald Trump came after refusing a request from Kennedy to dismiss CDC vaccine experts “without cause”.Kennedy said in June that waning public trust in US healthcare and conflicts of interest between the medical establishment and the pharmaceutical industry are behind a mission to put “the restoration of public trust above any pro- or anti-vaccine agenda”.“The public must know that unbiased science guides the recommendations from our health agencies. This will ensure the American people receive the safest vaccines possible,” he said.The surgeons general pushed back on that characterization in their letter, noting that they had uniformly “watched with increasing alarm as the foundations of our nation’s public health system have been undermined.“Science and expertise have taken a back seat to ideology and misinformation. Morale has plummeted in our health agencies, and talent is fleeing at a time when we face rising threats – from resurgent infectious diseases to worsening chronic illnesses,” they said.They accused Kennedy of failing to ground public healthcare policy in science, pointing out that Kennedy “has spent decades advancing dangerous and discredited claims about vaccines” and referred to the recent measles outbreak in parts of the US.“Secretary Kennedy is entitled to his views,” the authors concluded. “But he is not entitled to put people’s health at risk. He has rejected science, misled the public and compromised the health of Americans.”Last week, two psychiatric organizations – the Southern California Psychiatric Society and a grassroots startup, the Committee to Protect Public Mental Health – called for Kennedy’s removal as health secretary in a statement, arguing that the HHS had “been damaged in ways that directly endanger lives, degrade scientific integrity, and obstruct effective treatment for mental health and substance use disorders”.The groups pointed to Kennedy’s restructuring of the agency including changes to the substance abuse and mental health services administration (Samhsa), which the secretary plans to place under the control of a new entity, titled the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA).Emily Hilliard, a spokesperson for the federal health department, said in a statement to NPR that “Secretary Kennedy remains firmly committed to delivering on President Trump’s promise to Make America Healthy Again by dismantling the failed status quo, restoring public trust in health institutions, and ensuring the transparency, accountability, and decision-making power the American people voted for.” More

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      Virginia governor’s race shaken up by ‘violent’ texts sent by ally of Democratic candidate

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      A series of “violent” texts sent by a Democrat seeking to become Virginia’s attorney general has shaken up the state’s governor’s race, with Republican candidate Winsome Earle-Sears seizing on the controversy to try to reverse her opponent’s double-digit polling lead.Earle-Sears has released new campaign advertisements condemning Democratic former congresswoman Abigail Spanberger, her opponenent in the governor’s race, for continuing to support Jay Jones, whose private texts three years ago speculated about a senior state Republican getting “two bullets to the head” and “breeding little fascists”.Jones, a former state lawmaker, has apologized, and Spanberger distanced herself from his remarks, insisting in a statement: “I will always condemn violent language in our politics.”But Earle-Sears, who trailed her opponent by 12 points in a poll for November’s election taken before the texts emerged, said Spanberger and Jones both needed to drop out of their respective races, a view echoed by Donald Trump. The president called Spanberger “weak and ineffective” in a post to his Truth Social platform.“Spanberger’s continuing support for Jay Jones is disqualifying for higher office,” Earle-Sears said at a weekend press conference. “She and her party’s irresponsible behavior have brought us to this point.”The episode comes amid escalating political violence in the US, which in recent months has included the murders of Democratic Minnesota state house speaker Melissa Hortman and the far-right commentator Charlie Kirk – as well as an arson attack on the home of Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro.Trump and his allies have attempted to portray the violence as the exclusive preserve of leftwing agitators, even though a study – removed by the justice department from its website in September – concluded that far-right extremists have killed far more Americans than any other domestic terrorist group.The texts by Jones – who served in the state house from 2018 to 2021 – were sent in August 2022 to a Republican female former colleague. The text referred to Republican Todd Gilbert, the then speaker of the chamber.According to National Review, which first reported the texts Friday, Jones was musing about Gilbert and other Republicans in the wake of the death of Democratic long-serving state politician Joe Johnson Jr, saying he would “piss on their graves” if they died before him.Then he speculated on what he would do if he faced Gilbert and two dictators. “Three people, two bullets. Gilbert, Hitler and Pol Pot. Gilbert gets two bullets to the head,” he wrote. “Spoiler: put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people you know and he receives both bullets every time.”In a subsequent text, he said Gilbert and his wife, Jennifer, were “evil” – and “breeding little fascists”.The recipient of the messages, Republican state house of delegates member Carrie Coyner, challenged Jones on their content, the National Review said.“What he said was not just disturbing but disqualifying for anyone who wants to seek public office,” she told the outlet in a statement.Her statement also said: “It’s disgusting and unbecoming of any public official.”Jones issued his own statement of apology, accepting “full responsibility for my actions” and stating he had apologized to Gilbert and his wife.“Reading back those words made me sick to my stomach,” he said. “I am embarrassed, ashamed and sorry. I cannot take back what I said; I can only take full accountability and offer my sincere apology.”The Republican attorney general running for re-election against Jones, Jason Miyares, criticized his opponent at a press conference on Saturday. “The attorney general is the chief law enforcement officer of Virginia,” Miyares said. “It must be done with character and integrity. Jay Jones has proven he is reckless, biased, and willing to trade away his integrity. This conduct is disqualifying.”The scandal has put Spanberger on the back foot in a race that she was comfortably winning.“This definitely qualifies as something that breaks through, and not many events do that any more,” Virginia-based Republican strategist Zack Roday said to NBC News. “This is all the campaign is going to be for the next 30 days.” More

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      Epstein’s ‘birthday book’ transforms private notes into a legacy record

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      The United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform recently released a 238-page album, compiled by Ghislaine Maxwell in 2003 for Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday. On Oct. 6, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Maxwell’s appeal of her 2022 conviction for sex trafficking girls with Epstein.

      The release of the partially redacted album is part of a larger investigation of the federal government’s handling of Epstein and Maxwell and “possible mismanagement.”

      Read more:
      Trump’s Epstein problem is real: New poll shows many in his base disapprove of his handling of the files, and some supporters are having second thoughts about electing him

      The album is in the spotlight due to an entry allegedly penned by U.S. President Donald Trump, though the White House has denied he wrote it. Entitled The First Fifty Years, the book overflows with handwritten letters, campy sketches and images fixated on women’s bodies.

      The book was bound by Weitz & Coleman, an esteemed bookbinder in New York City since 1909, as indicated by a note within the album itself.

      Its “vegetable tanned” leather covers, table of contents and sections titled “Family,” “Friends” and “Business” signal an intent to elevate casual notes into a permanent record.

      As book historian D.F. McKenzie contends, a book’s physical form shapes its social role. Here, the elaborate binding and careful organization transform private, ephemeral notes into a social gesture, something shared in a legacy format.

      In this sense, Epstein’s album sits alongside a tradition of bound tribute books — scrapbooks pressed into leather for golden anniversaries, glossy volumes marking a CEO’s retirement or academic festschrifts that canonize a career. What unites them is the transformation of passing moments into artifacts meant to endure.

      House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., talks to reporters about the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 19, 2025.
      (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

      Charm, codes, clichés

      Maxwell’s prologue describes the book as a retrospective to “jog your memory of places and people and different events.”

      In the birthday book, one redacted former “assistant” recalls how working for Epstein transformed her life: she went from being “a 22-year-old divorcée working as a hotel hostess” to rubbing shoulders with royalty, presidents, financiers and celebrities.

      One letter from a childhood friend who recently said Maxwell instructed him to write something “raunchy” spins a sexually explicit fantasy about Epstein’s conception before drifting into nostalgic tales of their four-boy Brooklyn clique.

      In one vignette, Epstein is praised for flaunting a “beautiful British babe” at his family’s home, his indifference to her feelings reframed as charm. The anecdote turns callousness toward women into a badge of confidence and belonging. The letter concludes: “That shows a lot. It really does … Yes, your charisma and persuasive ways came very early on … you’re my kid’s role model.”

      Epstein’s sex life and treatment of women are recurring themes.

      A note apparently from private equity investor Leon Black, who was earlier found to have paid millions in fees to Epstein, cast Epstein as Ernest Hemingway’s hero in The Old Man and the Sea, swapping fish for “Blonde, Red or Brunette” women.

      Officials speak during a news conference to announce charges against Ghislaine Maxwell in 2020, in New York. Maxwell is now in federal prison for conspiring with Epstein to sexually abuse minors.
      (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

      Philosophers and scholars of rhetoric have long noted that ready-made clichés can replace inner reflection, forming a “code of expression” that insulates people from moral reckoning.

      Laughter as defence

      If language conveys loyalty, humour compounds it. Composed in 2003, as Epstein’s notoriety grew, today — amid the knowledge of Epstein’s sex crimes — the birthday book’s laughter seems knowingly defensive.

      There are bawdy jokes and mocking nicknames: Epstein is dubbed “Degenerate One” and teased or taunted with “so many girls, so little time.”

      As French philosopher Henri Bergson argued, laughter functions as a social corrective: a “kind of social ragging” that polices behaviour by ridiculing deviation under the guise of amusement.

      One birthday book contributor quips that Epstein had “avoided the penitentiary.” The comment implies knowledge of punishable behaviour, yet also suggests Epstein is an affable rogue.

      Figures of authority

      The book’s inclusion of entries from public office and science figures could suggest Maxwell and Epstein sought to keep or commemorate connections with figures of authority as a form of perceived legitimacy.

      The Wall Street Journal reported that former U.S. president Bill Clinton, whose name appears in the album’s “Friends” section, gave Epstein a handwritten note praising his “childlike curiosity” and drive to “make a difference.” In 2019, a spokesperson for Clinton said he severed ties with Epstein prior to his 2019 arrest and he was not aware of Epstein’s alleged crimes.

      Peter Mandelson, recently forced out as the United Kingdom’s ambassador to the U.S. after the Epstein birthday book’s release, penned a note saying Epstein was an “intelligent, sharp-witted man.” Mandelson has said he felt tremendous regret over his Epstein friendship and sympathy for Epstein’s victims.

      The birthday book’s “Science” section, with letters from leading scientists, shows that Epstein’s reach extended beyond business and politics into elite academic networks.

      Read more:
      How higher ed can deal with ethical questions over its disgraced donors

      Eroticized power and dominance

      While some entries strike a mundane or playful tone, others veer into vulgarity.

      The former CEO of Victoria’s Secret, Leslie Wexner, contributed a sketch resembling a woman’s breasts with the words “I wanted to get you what you want… so here it is” — framing it as a present. Wexner has said before he severed ties with Epstein in 2007 and declined to comment about the book.

      The note allegedly written by Trump features a drawing of a naked woman alongside typewritten text imagining a conversation between them. It calls Epstein “a pal” and ends with the wish that “every day be another wonderful secret.”

      Former Microsoft executive Nathan Myhrvold contributed a series of African wildlife photographs, claiming they spoke more vividly than words. The images — of copulating lions and a zebra with an erect penis — foreground predatory and sexualized behaviour, and may be interpreted as reflecting a fascination with dominance and raw biological impulse.

      The Seattle Times reports that a spokesperson for Myhrvold said Myhrvold knew Epstein “from TED conferences and as a donor to basic scientific research” and “regrets that he ever met him.” The representative did not address the letter.

      This image posted Sept. 8, 2025, on the X account of the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, shows a sexually suggestive birthday note to Jeffrey Epstein alluding to a ‘wonderful secret’ and purportedly signed by U.S. President Donald Trump, who has denied sending the note.
      (@OversightDems/X via AP)

      The legacy of small gestures

      While journalists have long documented that Epstein’s networks stretched from political leaders and Wall Street financiers to influential figures in science and culture, it remains to be seen how the carefully curated and gifted birthday book fits into the larger investigation.

      The book’s most insidious achievement is its ordinariness. It suggests the ways that power is fortified and legitimized not only with contracts and institutions but through gestures of social life, including commemorative books. More