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      Trump accused of caving to big business after deal to cut Swiss tariffs to 15%

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      Donald Trump agreed to cut US tariffs on Switzerland from 39% to 15% as part of a new trade pact, lowering duties that strained economic ties and hit Swiss exporters.The two countries have signed a “non-binding memorandum of understanding”, the Swiss government announced, following bilateral talks in Washington and intense lobbying by Swiss firms.Critics seized on the announcement as evidence that the White House had put corporate interests ahead of those of struggling Americans, as inflation continues to increase the cost of living nationwide.“While prices for American families are going way up because of Trump’s chaotic tariffs, it’s the billionaires and giant corporations cozying up to Trump that get relief,” Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, said.Leading Swiss executives met Trump at the White House earlier this month. Rolex, the luxury Swiss watchmaker, also invited the president and a string of his officials to the US Open tennis final in September.Upon arrival, Trump “did ask in jest whether he would have been invited had it not been for the tariffs”, Jean-Frédéric Dufour, the Rolex CEO, later disclosed. This was “a moment that brought a round of laughter all around”, he added.Dufour denied that Rolex had engaged in “any negotiation” with the US over tariffs. The White House dismissed Warren’s criticism as “asinine conspiracy theories”.Trump was gifted a golden table clock by Rolex, which was later spotted on his desk in the Oval Office. Another firm is said to have donated an engraved gold bar.The US trade representative, Jamieson Greer, also confirmed the breakthrough on Friday, telling CNBC, the financial news network, that both sides had “essentially reached a deal”.The Trump administration agreed to limit US tariffs on Switzerland and Liechtenstein “to a maximum of 15%” under the deal, according to a statement from the Swiss government.This brings US tariffs on Switzerland in line with those on the European Union – allowing Swiss exporters the same treatment as rivals in neighboring countries.In return, Switzerland will reduce tariffs “on a range of US products”, the statement said. “In addition to all industrial products, fish and seafood, this includes agricultural products from the US that Switzerland considers non-sensitive.”Swiss officials also committed to granting a series of quotas for US goods that can be exported to Switzerland on a duty-free basis, including 500 tonnes of beef, 1,000 tonnes of bison meat and 1,500 tonnes of poultry.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“The date for implementing these market access concessions will be coordinated with the US to ensure that customs duties are reduced at the same time,” the statement said.This is the latest “framework” trade deal to be struck by Trump and his administration. Unlike formal free trade agreements, which are substantial and can take years to negotiate, these pacts have typically been narrow in focus and light on detail.The precise timing of the implementation, and when the new tariffs and quotas will be enforced, has yet to be finalized.“They’re going to send a lot of manufacturing here to the United States – pharmaceuticals, gold smelting, railway equipment,” Greer claimed on CNBC, “so we’re really excited about that deal and what it means for American manufacturing.”The Swiss government said companies in the country were “planning to make direct investments” in the US worth $200bn “by the end of 2028”. More

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      Bondi announces investigation into Epstein ties to Trump’s Democratic adversaries

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      Attorney general Pam Bondi announced on Friday afternoon that she had assigned Jay Clayton, the interim US attorney for the southern district of New York, to lead the investigation into Donald Trump’s political adversaries and their ties to Jeffrey Epstein, hours after the president directed her to do so.“Jay Clayton is one of the most capable and trusted prosecutors in the country, and I’ve asked him to take the lead,” Bondi said of the lawyer, who also served as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission during Trump’s first administration. “As with all matters, the Department will pursue this with urgency and integrity to deliver answers to the American people.”The move represents an apparent departure from a July memo issued by the justice department and the FBI that stated officials had found nothing in the Epstein files that warranted the opening of further inquiries. Investigators “did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties”, the memo said.It comes as Trump has cranked up his intense pressure campaign on congressional Republicans to oppose the full release of the justice department’s files related to Epstein, before a crucial and long-awaited House vote on the matter next week that many Republicans are expected to support.The bombshell release on Wednesday of scores of Epstein’s emails has shone a spotlight on the president’s long history of involvement with the notorious sex trafficker, including revelations that he knew more about Epstein’s conduct than he has previously let on.On Friday morning, Trump declared that he would ask the Department of Justice to investigate Epstein’s ties with Democrats, not Republicans, singling out Bill Clinton, Larry Summers and Reid Hoffman. Trump also paradoxically referred to the “Epstein hoax” and called it a “scam”.It is expected that dozens of Republicans will vote next week for Republican Thomas Massie and Democrat Ro Khanna’s discharge petition, which demands the Department of Justice release all of its investigative files on Epstein within 30 days.The legislation had stalled because the House speaker, Mike Johnson, a Republican, had refused for almost two months during the government shutdown to swear in the new Democratic representative Adelita Grijalva, who would become the deciding 218th vote. After the shutdown ended, Johnson could delay no longer, and Grijalva was sworn in on Wednesday. The vote is now likely to happen early next week.Many House Republicans have constituents who say they want greater transparency about the Epstein affair. Representatives Don Bacon of Nebraska, Tim Burchett of Tennessee and Rob Bresnahan of Pennsylvania have indicated they would vote to release the files.The Trump administration has put heavy pressure on key Republicans to oppose the legislation. The New York Times reported that top officials summoned Lauren Boebert – one of four Republicans in the House who have signed the petition – to a meeting in the White House Situation Room with Bondi and FBI director Kash Patel to discuss her demand to release the files. Trump had also telephoned her early on Tuesday morning, a day before Grijalva was due to be sworn in and provide the crucial final signature.Trump also contacted Nancy Mace, another member of the Republican caucus in the House who has signed the petition, but the two did not connect. Mace instead reportedly wrote the president a long explanation of her own personal experience as a survivor of sexual abuse and rape, and why it was impossible for her to change her position on the matter. She wrote on X that “the Epstein petition is deeply personal”.Those failed lobbying attempts from the White House came as Democrats on the House oversight committee released three damning new emails that suggest Trump knew about Epstein’s conduct, including one in which the convicted paedophile said “of course [Trump] knew about the girls”. Another email described Trump as a “dog that hasn’t barked” and said he had “spent hours” with one victim at Epstein’s house.The president’s team struck back, saying those documents had been cherrypicked, and Republican representatives followed up by releasing a much bigger trove of more than 20,000 files.Among them were documents that revealed that Epstein’s staff kept him apprised of Trump’sair travel as it related to his own transportation – and that the late sex trafficker kept up with news about his former friend years after their relationship soured.But even if the bill passes the House, it still needs to get through the Senate and be signed by Trump. Senate leaders have shown no indication they will bring it up for a vote, and Trump – who had long promised the release of the files on the campaign trail – has decried the effort as a “Democrat hoax”.The justice department earlier this year announced it would release no further details about the case, prompting public demand for files related to the investigation into Epstein’s activities to be made public. More

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      Jeffrey Epstein and Larry Summers’s exchanges depict relationship as confidants, emails reveal

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      A series of exchanges between child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Larry Summers, the former US treasury secretary, showing a relationship as confidants emerged among the emails released by Republican legislators this week in the continuing political turmoil over Epstein’s connections to Donald Trump.The exchanges, from 2013 to early 2019, showed the two men sharing personal – and sometimes unseemly – views about politics and relationships.“I’m trying to figure why [the] American elite think if u murder your baby by beating and abandonment it must be irrelevant to your admission to Harvard,” Summers wrote to Epstein in a 2017 email. “But hit on a few women 10 years ago and can’t work at a network or think tank. DO NOT REPEAT THIS INSIGHT.”At the time, Harvard University was wrestling with an admissions debate after a formerly incarcerated woman’s admission to a PhD program. Summers, a former president of the university who lost his position in a scandal after making sexist comments about female academics, went on to say in the email to Epstein: “I observed that half of the IQ In [the] world was possessed by women without mentioning they are more than 51 percent of population.”Summers was once a leading light in Democratic circles – a former treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, one of the primary engineers of Barack Obama’s response to the financial crisis and a stalwart in the liberal commentariat. But questions have lingered about his association with Epstein, a longtime associate of Trump. Epstein was accused of running a wide-ranging child sex trafficking operation before his death in jail in 2019 in New York City.After the Wall Street Journal revealed a previous tranche of emails between Epstein and Summers in a 2023 piece, a spokesperson for Summers told the paper that he “deeply regrets being in contact with Epstein after his conviction”.Summers’s spokesperson has not yet responded to a request for comment from the Guardian.Democratic lawmakers released emails from the Epstein estate this week that suggest Epstein believed Trump was aware of conduct by the now-convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. In response, Republican lawmakers released a much bigger tranche of 20,000 emails from the Epstein estate.The documents show that Summers maintained congenial contact with the convicted child sex trafficker well into 2019, with the last email exchange occurring only months before Epstein’s arrest.Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday that he would be asking the Department of Justice and the FBI to investigate Epstein’s “involvement and relationship” with Summers, among other prominent Democrats and business leaders.In the emails, Summers and Epstein discuss politics – particularly Summers’s contempt for Trump – as well as the details of philanthropic social networking – and women. Summers, 70, confided in Epstein in a 2019 exchange about his romantic gestures toward an unnamed woman, and being rebuffed.“shes smart. making you pay for past errors,” Epstein wrote in an exchange on 16 March. “ignore the daddy im going to go out with the motorcycle guy, you reacted well.. annoyed shows caring., no whining showed strentgh.”Summers reiterated his regret to the Harvard Crimson on Wednesday. “I have great regrets in my life,” he wrote. “As I have said before, my association with Jeffrey Epstein was a major error of judgement.”Summers was president of Harvard University from 2001 to 2006. Epstein donated more than $9m to Harvard and its affiliated programs between 1998 and 2008, and was appointed a visiting fellow to conduct research. The university later concluded Epstein “lacked the academic qualifications visiting fellows typically possess and his application proposed a course of study Epstein was unqualified to pursue”.Harvard only stopped accepting Epstein’s donations after he pleaded guilty to child sex offenses in 2008.By then Obama’s star was rising. Summers would eventually win appointment as director of the White House national economic council (NEC) from January 2009 until November 2010.After Summers left the White House, he began asking Epstein for philanthropic advice for his wife, Elisa New, a Harvard professor pursuing a poetry project, according to reporting by the Wall Street Journal. Epstein and his foundations made philanthropic donations to projects connected to Summers’s wife, and the two men met a dozen times between 2013 and 2016, often for dinner.After reporting about Epstein’s donations emerged, New’s charity made a donation “in excess” of that received to anti-sex-trafficking organizations, a spokesperson told journalists in 2023. More

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      Georgia prosecutor to take over last remaining criminal case against Trump

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      The only remaining criminal case against Donald Trump has been revived after the head of Georgia’s prosecutor’s council appointed himself to replace Fani Willis, the Fulton county district attorney, who was removed from the election interference case in September.Pete Skandalakis, a Republican and the executive director of the prosecuting attorneys’ council of Georgia, the state body that provides legal training and is often charged to mitigate prosecutorial conflicts, wrote in a statement on Friday that he would be taking over from Willis.A grand jury in Atlanta indicted Trump and 18 others in August 2023, using the state’s anti-racketeering law to accuse them of participating in a wide-ranging scheme to illegally overturn Trump’s narrow 2020 loss to Joe Biden in Georgia. The alleged scheme included Trump’s call to the Georgia secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, urging him to find enough votes to beat Biden.The case remains the only criminal prosecution of Trump, but it has been on life support after Willis was disqualified by the Georgia supreme court, which ruled that her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, revealed in dramatic court filings in January 2024, created an impermissible appearance of a conflict of interest.Four people have pleaded guilty. Trump and the others have pleaded not guilty. While president, Trump is protected from state-level prosecutions, but the other 14 remaining defendants are still subject to prosecution.“The filing of this appointment reflects my inability to secure another conflict prosecutor to assume responsibility for this case,” Skandalakis said. “Several prosecutors were contacted and, while all were respectful and professional, each declined the appointment.”Fulton county’s courts have called on Skandalakis to resolve a conflict before in this case, after Scott McAfee, Fulton county superior court judge, found that Willis’s office had a conflict of interest with Burt Jones, who served as one of 16 “alternate” GOP electors in Georgia to cast a vote for Trump during the 2020 legal conflict over election results. Skandalakis ultimately declined to press charges in the case against Jones, who is now Georgia’s lieutenant governor and a candidate for governor in 2026.McAfee set a 14 November deadline for Skandalakis to find a new prosecutor on the Trump racketeering indictment to avoid dismissing the case entirely.“While it would have been simple to allow Judge McAfee’s deadline to lapse or to inform the court that no conflict prosecutor could be secured – thereby allowing the case to be dismissed for want of prosecution – I did not believe that to be the right course of action,” Skandalakis said.“The public has a legitimate interest in the outcome of this case. Accordingly, it is important that someone make an informed and transparent determination about how best to proceed.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionSkandalakis noted that he did not receive the complete investigative file from Fulton county prosecutors until last week. He appointed himself as prosecutor to “complete a comprehensive review and make an informed decision regarding how best to proceed”.In addition to Trump, Mark Meadows, the president’s former chief of staff, and former New York mayor and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani remain defendants in the case. Trump pardoned Meadows and Giuliani of any federal crime related to the 2020 election, a largely symbolic gesture.Upon receipt of Skandalakis’s letter naming himself as prosecutor, McAfee wasted no time jumping into the case. He immediately scheduled a pretrial status conference for 1 December, asking prosecutors to tell him whether they intend to seek a superseding indictment to continue the case. Later Friday afternoon, he dismissed three of the counts in the case involving forgery and filing of false documents in federal court. More

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      Trump news at a glance: president faces potentially damaging congressional vote over releasing Epstein files

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      Donald Trump is facing the prospect of a politically damaging congressional vote on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files after attempts to press two female members of Congress to withdraw their backing for it appeared to have failed.The reported refusal of Lauren Boebert, a Republican representative from Colorado, and Nancy Mace, from South Carolina, to remove their names from a discharge petition to force a vote leaves Trump exposed on an issue that carries the possibility of turning segments of his Maga base against him.Boebert reportedly stood firm on supporting the petition after being invited by Trump to the White House in an effort to persuade her to withdraw her signature, according to the New York Times.Trump faces prospect of congressional vote on releasing Epstein filesThe outlet reported that the meeting happened hours after Democrats on the House of Representatives’ oversight committee released a trove of emails from the files that suggested that Trump may have known more about Epstein’s underage sex trafficking activities than he previously acknowledged.The disgraced late financier – who died by suicide in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial – wrote in one email that Trump, his former close friend, “knew about the girls”.The New York Times reported that the White House sought to persuade Boebert to change her mind – enlisting Pam Bondi, the attorney general, and the FBI director, Kash Patel – before issuing “vague threats” when the tactic did not work.The paper, citing people “familiar with her thinking”, reported that the hardline approach had the counterproductive effect of persuading Boebert that there may be a conspiracy to conceal the contents of the files and caused her to dig in.Read the full storyUS justice department joins lawsuit to block California’s new electoral mapThe lawsuit, filed in federal court in California, challenges the congressional map championed by Gavin Newsom, the state’s Democratic governor, in response to a Republican gerrymander in Texas, sought by Donald Trump. The justice department’s intervention in the case sets up a high-profile showdown between the Trump administration and Newsom, one of the president’s chief antagonists and a possible 2028 contender.Read the full storyBBC apologises to Trump over edited speechHowever, the corporation has rejected his demands for compensation, after lawyers for Trump threatened to sue for $1bn (£760m) in damages unless the BBC issued a retraction, apologised and settled with him.The BBC has also agreed not to show the edition of Panorama again.Read the full storyJames Comey and Letitia James to challenge validity of Trump-era chargesJames Comey, the former FBI director, and the New York attorney general, Letitia James, will ask a federal judge on Thursday to drop the criminal charges against them, arguing that Donald Trump’s hand-picked US attorney, who obtained the indictments against them, was unlawfully appointed.The hearing at the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia in front of Judge Cameron Currie will mark the first time a judge will consider one of several efforts James and Comey have made to dismiss the indictments before trials.Read the full storyEric Swalwell under federal investigation for alleged mortgage fraudThe Democratic congressman is the latest target of Trump’s retribution campaign against his critics, the congressman confirmed on Thursday.NBC News reports that Swalwell is facing a federal criminal investigation for alleged mortgage fraud, just as three other Democratic officials have faced in recent months. The outlet says the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency sent a letter to the attorney general claiming Swalwell may have committed mortgage and tax fraud.Read the full storyTrump Organization sought to bring in nearly 200 workers on visas in 2025Donald Trump’s family business increased the pace at which it hired foreign workers on temporary visas this year, even as his administration was placing obstacles in the way of other businesses that wanted to do the same, a report published Thursday claimed.According to Forbes, which analyzed data from the US Department of Labor, the Trump Organization sought to bring in at least 184 foreign workers in 2025 for temporary positions at the US president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, two golf clubs and his Virginia winery.Read the full storyDonald Trump to pardon UK billionaire and former Tottenham owner Joe LewisJoe Lewis, the British billionaire and former owner of Tottenham Hotspur FC, is to be pardoned by Donald Trump over a 2024 conviction for his part in a “brazen” insider trading scheme.Lewis, 88, was fined $5m (£3.8m) and given three years of probation by a New York judge last year but was spared jail time after pleading guilty to involvement in a plan that prosecutors said was designed to enrich his friends, lovers and employees.Read the full storyWhat else happened today:

      The New York City mayoral election may be remembered for the remarkable win of a young democratic socialist, but it was also marked by something that is likely to permeate future elections: the use of AI-generated campaign videos.

      The US state department has announced that it will designate four European self-described anti-fascist groups as Foreign Terrorist Organisations, as the Trump administration broadens its campaign against what it portrays as an international wave of leftist violence.

      Wall Street came under pressure on Thursday, enduring its worst day in a month as a sell-off of technology stocks intensified. After an extraordinary rally around hopes for artificial intelligence that propelled global stock markets to record highs, fears that tech firms are now overvalued loom large.

      While Donald Trump’s justice department has downplayed the possibility that other men were involved in Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of teen girls, an email released on 12 November as part of the House oversight committee’s Epstein investigation shows an exchange between the late financier and an associate where they discuss “girls” and travel.

      Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman was hospitalized on Thursday after a heart condition flare-up caused him to fall on his face outside his home.
      Catching up? Here’s what happened Wednesday, 12 November. More

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      Democrat Eric Swalwell faces federal criminal inquiry for alleged mortgage fraud

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      The Democratic congressman Eric Swalwell is the latest target of Trump’s retribution campaign against his critics, the congressman confirmed on Thursday.NBC News reports that Swalwell is facing a federal criminal investigation for alleged mortgage fraud, just as three other Democratic officials have faced in recent months. The outlet says the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency sent a letter to the attorney general claiming Swalwell may have committed mortgage and tax fraud.Swalwell said in a statement: “As the most vocal critic of Donald Trump over the last decade and as the only person who still has a surviving lawsuit against him, the only thing I am surprised about is that it took him this long to come after me.”The move is the latest in Trump’s ongoing retribution campaign, in which he is pushing for criminal charges against his enemies and issuing executive orders that punish those who have worked against him.Trump has gone after the New York attorney general, Leticia James, Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook and Senator Adam Schiff, all with claims of mortgage fraud originating from the Federal Housing Finance Agency. He posted on Truth Social a public note of pressure to the attorney general, Pam Bondi, to bring charges against his critics. James has been charged and is fighting the allegations.In separate instances, the former FBI director James Comey was indicted for allegedly making a false statement and obstructing a congressional investigation during a testimony to Congress in 2020, and former national security adviser John Bolton was charged over mishandling classified materials.“Like James Comey and John Bolton, Adam Schiff and Lisa Cook, Letitia James and the dozens more to come – I refuse to live in fear in what was once the freest country in the world,” Swalwell said. “As Mark Twain said, ‘Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.’ Mr. President, do better. Be Better.”The referral to the justice department “alleges several million dollars worth of loans and refinancing based on Swalwell declaring his primary residence as Washington” and says Swalwell should be investigated for a host of potential fraud crimes, according to NBC News. More

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      The Epstein files are back to haunt Trump – podcast

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      Archive: ABC News, ABC7, CBS Mornings, CBS21News, CNN, Good Morning America, Face the Nation, KKTVB, NBC, MSNBC
      Listen to the Today in Focus episode on Trump’s potential BBC lawsuit
      Buy Jonathan Freedland’s new book, The Traitors Circle, here.
      Send your questions and feedback to politicsweeklyamerica@theguardian.com
      Support the Guardian. Go to theguardian.com/politicspodus More

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      The Guardian view on Trump and Epstein: the truth about Maga and its conspiracy theories | Editorial

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      It is 20 years since Florida police first investigated the financier Jeffrey Epstein for the sexual abuse of underage girls; six years since he killed himself in prison following his arrest on federal sex-trafficking charges; and more than a year since Donald Trump said that he would have “no problem” with releasing the FBI files on the offender.As the Democratic politician Ro Khanna noted, releasing the files “was core to Trump’s promise … It was his central theme that the American corrupt elite had betrayed forgotten Americans”. The question is not only what Epstein’s associates did, but also what they knew and what they did not do. It is not only about their own behaviour, but about any knowledge or suspicion of his crimes, and willingness to overlook them.Yet the Maga base is still waiting. Mr Trump has said that he had “no idea” about Epstein’s crimes. On Wednesday, questions were reignited by the Democrats’ release of emails in which Epstein described Mr Trump as “that dog that hasn’t barked”, adding that “[victim’s name redacted] spent hours at my house with him”. Republicans said the victim was the late Virginia Giuffre, who told lawyers that “I don’t think Donald Trump participated in anything”. Separately, Epstein wrote that “of course he knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine [Maxwell] to stop” and that “Trump knew of it” but “he never got a massage”.Mr Trump, who has mainstreamed and legitimised conspiracy politics and the championing of emotion over fact, attacks the issue as a “hoax”. The very people who urged Maga supporters to pursue this story – such as Kash Patel, now FBI chief – abruptly changed their minds this year without adequate explanation. Republicans released thousands of documents in response to the emails published by Democrats. But Mr Trump faces a bipartisan demand for the full release of the files, with members of the Maga far right joining Democrats.The Republicans took a drubbing in off-year elections last week, and Mr Trump’s approval rating is the lowest of this term. The ending of the longest government shutdown in history – after a handful of Democrats folded on Wednesday – relieved the White House, but opens the way for a vote on releasing the files, expected next week.Mr Trump has shaken off troubles that would have ended any other political career – including E Jean Carroll’s successful civil suit against him for sexual abuse (which he is again asking the supreme court to dismiss) and two dozen allegations of sexual assault, which he denies. The full release of documents might aid him: the slow drip of information has kept the scandal running and made it look, rightly or wrongly, as if the administration has something worse to hide.For the Maga base, previously fired up by lurid and false “Pizzagate” claims of a paedophile ring connected to the Democratic political elite, this remains a burning issue. Their claims about Epstein’s circle have at times been partisan, provably wrong and antisemitic. Yet it’s hard to deny that the mills of justice usually grind slower when the rich and well-connected are involved, and that powerful figures who benefited from a relationship with Epstein, such as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Peter Mandelson, have sought to avoid scrutiny and minimise their ties. It took the courage of victims and dogged reporting to make Epstein accountable, and it took far too long. A fuller reckoning for his associates – from across the political spectrum – is overdue.

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