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      Justice department will release Epstein files within 30 days, says US attorney general – US politics live

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      The US justice department will release files from its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein within 30 days, attorney general Pam Bondi has said, after Congress voted nearly unanimously to force Donald Trump’s administration to make them public.The scandal has been a thorn in Trump’s side for months, partly because he amplified conspiracy theories about Epstein to his own supporters. Many Trump voters believe his administration has covered up Epstein’s ties to powerful figures and obscured details surrounding his death, which was ruled a suicide, in a Manhattan jail in 2019 as he faced federal sex trafficking charges.At a news conference today, Bondi confirmed that the DOJ will release its Epstein-related material within 30 days, as required by legislation that passed the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and Senate yesterday. “We will continue to follow the law and encourage maximum transparency,” she said.But that release may not be comprehensive, as the agency may have to hold back material that could impact Trump-ordered investigations of Democratic figures who associated with Epstein.The department will also protect the identities of any sex-trafficking victims whose names appear in the documents, she said.The FBI intercepted phone calls, texts and other electronic communications of people who work or have worked for the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, as part of a federal corruption investigation of his former chief of staff and two Democratic operatives, according to letters to the targets reviewed by The Los Angeles Times.The former aide to Newson, Dana Williamson was arrested last week on federal charges that she allegedly stole $225,000 from a dormant state campaign account of the state’s former attorney general, Xavier Becerra.According to the 23-count indictment, Williamson conspired with Becerra’s former chief deputy in the California attorney general’s office and ex-chief of staff Sean McCluskie, along with lobbyist Greg Campbell to bill Becerra’s dormant campaign account for bogus consulting services.Williamson has pleaded not guilty to the charges.Prosecutors said the investigation began three years ago, during the Biden administration.The legal notifications from the FBI, mandated by the 1968 Federal Wiretap Act, are sent out to people whose private communications have been captured on federal wiretaps after investigations.A spokesperson for Newsom’s office said the governor did not receive a letter and the governor is not involved in the case against Williamson. Newsom was not mentioned in the indictments against the three aides.As of 3.52pm ET, on a grey afternoon in Washington, we’ve yet to hear from the White House about whether the press will watch Donald Trump sign the bill directing the justice department to release unclassified documents related to Jeffrey Epstein.We’ll make sure to update you if that changes.The president has nominated a new director of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB), in a move that allows the current acting director, Russell Vought, who also serves as the director of the office of management and budget, to remain in his position and continue dismantling the agency.Trump’s decision to nominate Stuart Levenbach, an official in the budget office, as the permanent director provides a crucial loophole that allows Vought to stay put, three weeks before he would otherwise have to step aside. Federal law says that an acting official can only serve for 210 days, unless the president nominates another person for the position.Vought took over the CFPB earlier this year, and has consistently pushed for the watchdog’s elimination, including trying to fire most of its staff.Today, Elizabeth Warren – the top Democrat on the Senate banking committee – said that Levenbach’s nomination was “nothing more than a front for Russ Vought to stay on as acting director indefinitely as he tries to illegally close down the agency”.Tom Steyer, the billionaire environmental activist who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for president in 2020, will run for California governor, he announced on Wednesday.The 68-year-old joins a crowded field of candidates seeking to replace Gavin Newsom, and in a statement released this week pledged to focus on the state’s intractable affordability crisis.“Californians deserve a life they can afford. But the Californians who make this state run are being run over by the cost of living. We need to get back to basics. And that means making corporations pay their fair share again,” Steyer said.With Newsom termed out from running again, several prominent Democrats have entered the race, including former congresswoman Katie Porter; Xavier Becerra, a former US cabinet member; Antonio Villaraigosa, a former state lawmaker who served as the LA mayor; and Betty Yee, who was the state controller from 2015 to 2023. Congressman Eric Swalwell is expected to announce plans to run.Porter was considered the frontrunner until October when video emerged of her appearing frustrated with a journalist during an interview with a local news outlet and threatening to walk out. In the aftermath of the incident, Republican Chad Bianco, the Riverside county sheriff who is running for governor, took the lead in polling. Steve Hilton, a former David Cameron adviser and Fox News host, is also running as a Republican.A majority of nationally registered voters said they would back a Democratic congressional candidate if the 2026 midterms were held today, according to a new poll by NPR/PBS News/Marist University.While 55% of respondents said they would support a Democrat, 41% would support the Republican, and 3% would back another candidate.Notably, 39% of the Americans surveyed said that they blame Democrats for the record-breaking government shutdown. Trump received 34% of the responsibility, while 26% blame congressional Republicans.

      The US justice department will release files from its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein within 30 days, Pam Bondi, the attorney general, has said, after Congress voted nearly unanimously to force Donald Trump’s administration to make them public. At a news conference today, Bondi confirmed that the justice department will release its Epstein-related material within 30 days, as required by legislation that passed the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and Senate yesterday. “We will continue to follow the law and encourage maximum transparency,” she said.

      However, the department may have to hold back material that could affect Trump-ordered investigations of Democratic figures who associated with Epstein. They could argue that releasing certain documents would be prejudicial.

      The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has said it will not release a full US jobs report for the month of October, following the country’s longest ever federal government shutdown. Instead, the available figures will be published with November’s data in mid-December, the BLS said. The October data is expected to show negative job growth after about 100,000 federal workers participated in the deferred-resignation program and formally left payrolls in late September during the shutdown.

      In federal court today, Lindsey Halligan, the president’s handpicked choice for interim US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia, and another prosecutor acknowledged that the entire grand jury never saw the final indictment against James Comey. Halligan charged the former FBI director with lying to Congress in September. But when the prosecution was questioned by Judge Michael Nachmanoff today, they admitted that the a new version of the indictment was not presented to the full panel after it rejected one of the charges.

      The US has signalled to Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Ukraine must accept a US-drafted framework to end Russia’s war that proposes Kyiv giving up territory and some weapons, two people familiar with the matter have told Reuters. The sources, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter, said the proposals included cutting the size of Ukraine’s armed forces, among other things. Washington wants Kyiv to accept the main points, the sources said.
      In federal court today, Lindsey Halligan (the president’s handpicked choice for interim US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia) and another prosecutor acknowledged that the entire grand jury never saw the final indictment against James Comey.Halligan charged the former FBI director with lying to Congress in September. But when the prosecution was probed by Judge Michael Nachmanoff today, they admitted that the a new version of the indictment was not presented to the full panel, after they rejected one of the charges. Instead, Halligan gave the grand jury’s foreperson an updated version to sign. “The foreperson and another grand juror was also present,” she confirmed to Nachmanoff.“There is no indictment,” said Comey’s attorney Michael Dreeben, arguing that this error is grounds for dismissal.A Republican attempt to censure Stacey Plaskett, a Democratic delegate, over her real-time texts with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein collapsed on the House floor on Tuesday night, prompting a confrontation on the chamber floor and accusations that party leaders had struck a deal to protect members on both sides facing ethics controversies.The measure, which would have formally reprimanded Plaskett and removed her from the House intelligence committee over her text message exchanges with Epstein during a hearing, failed by a vote of 209 to 214.Republicans Don Bacon of Nebraska, Lance Gooden of Texas and Dave Joyce of Ohio voted with all Democrats against the resolution, while three other Republicans voted present.When newly released materials exposed Plaskett, a Democrat from the US Virgin Islands, for exchanging real-time messages with Epstein during a 2019 congressional hearing, all Democrats voted against her censure.Then, immediately after the vote, Democrats withdrew a planned censure resolution against Cory Mills, a Florida Republican representative facing allegations of stolen valor, financial misconduct and domestic abuse. Mills has denied the accusations.The sequence prompted Lauren Boebert, a representative of Colorado, to shout at fellow Republicans on the House floor, wagging her finger and at one point directly confronting Mills.Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican representative from Florida, attempted to raise a parliamentary inquiry asking Mike Johnson, the House speaker, to “explain why leadership on both sides, both Democrat and Republican, are cutting back-end deals to cover up public corruption in the House of Representatives”.“Get it, girl,” Boebert shouted in response.The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has said it will not release a full US jobs report for the month of October, following the country’s longest ever federal government shutdown.Instead, the available figures will be published with November’s data in mid-December, the BLS said.The October data is expected to show negative job growth after around 100,000 federal workers participated in the deferred resignation program and formally left payrolls in late September during the shutdown.The announcement will have major implications for the Federal Reserve, whose officials are debating whether to lower interest rates again when they meet next month.On this the New York Times notes: “Policymakers have grown more divided in recent weeks, with those inclined to cut rates emphasizing their concerns about the labor market and those hesitant to make a move focusing on the risks posed by inflation reaccelerating again. Typically, new economic data would help to resolve some of those differences. But the Fed will not have much new data in hand much new data before it has to make its decision on 10 December.”The US justice department will release files from its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein within 30 days, attorney general Pam Bondi has said, after Congress voted nearly unanimously to force Donald Trump’s administration to make them public.The scandal has been a thorn in Trump’s side for months, partly because he amplified conspiracy theories about Epstein to his own supporters. Many Trump voters believe his administration has covered up Epstein’s ties to powerful figures and obscured details surrounding his death, which was ruled a suicide, in a Manhattan jail in 2019 as he faced federal sex trafficking charges.At a news conference today, Bondi confirmed that the DOJ will release its Epstein-related material within 30 days, as required by legislation that passed the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and Senate yesterday. “We will continue to follow the law and encourage maximum transparency,” she said.But that release may not be comprehensive, as the agency may have to hold back material that could impact Trump-ordered investigations of Democratic figures who associated with Epstein.The department will also protect the identities of any sex-trafficking victims whose names appear in the documents, she said.The US president says the United States is “going to be selling Saudi Arabia some of the greatest military equipment ever built” and says “the airplanes” would be “approved very quickly”.Yesterday, Trump confirmed the US would sell F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, marking the first sale of the advanced fighter jets to a Middle Eastern state other than Israel.Trump also says that $270bn in agreements and sales were being signed between “dozens of companies” today.Trump reiterates that he signed an agreement designating Saudi Arabia a major non-Nato ally at last night’s dinner with the crown prince.“We’re taking our military cooperation to even greater heights by formally designating Saudi Arabia as a major, non-Nato ally, which is something that is very important to them,” Trump said last night.The US currently has 19 other countries listed as major non-Nato allies, including Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar.“A stronger and more capable alliance will advance the interests of both countries, and it will serve the highest interest of peace,” Trump said during the dinner.Donald Trump and Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, have been delivering remarks to the US-Saudi Investment Forum at the Kennedy Center. I’ll bring you any key lines that come out of that here.The US has signalled to Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Ukraine must accept a US-drafted framework to end Russia’s war which proposes Kyiv giving up territory and some weapons, two people familiar with the matter have told Reuters.The sources, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter, said the proposals included cutting the size of Ukraine’s armed forces, among other things. Washington wants Kyiv to accept the main points, the sources said.Earlier, we covered Axios’s report of a secret US 28-point peace plan, hammered out with Russia (and without any direct input from Ukraine and other European allies), that is now on the table to end the war. According to Axios’s sources, the plan’s 28 points fall into four general buckets: peace in Ukraine, security guarantees, security in Europe, and future US relations with Russia and Ukraine.And this morning, Politico reported, citing a senior White House official, that “they expect a framework for ending the conflict to be agreed by all parties by the end of this month – and possibly ‘as soon as this week’”.Trump administration officials told the outlet last night that they were on the brink of a major breakthrough and it seemed as though the plan would be presented to Zelenskyy as a fait accompli.“What we are going to present [to Ukraine] is reasonable,” the senior White House official told Politico, with the mood in the administration one in which Zelenskyy, under pressure on the battlefield and at home in the face of a mounting corruption scandal, must accept what’s on offer.You can follow my colleague Jakub Krupa’s coverage of the war here:Lawyers for James Comey are arguing that the case against the former FBI director is nothing more than a personal attack, born out of Donald Trump’s desire to prosecute his political adversary.“This is an extraordinary case and it merits an extraordinary remedy,” Comey’s defense lawyer, Michael Dreeben, said today at a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. Dreeben added that the president’s public comments about Comey are “effectively an admission that this is a political prosecution and not based on evidence”.A reminder that Comey is charged with lying to Congress in 2020, and has pleaded not guilty.On Monday, another federal judge found evidence of “government misconduct” in how Lindsey Halligan, the interim US attorney general for the eastern district of Virginia, secured criminal charges against the former FBI director, and ordered that grand jury materials be turned over to Comey’s defense team.Later today, we’re expecting a vote in the House that would repeal a provision tucked into the stopgap spending bill passed last week (which ended the record-breaking government shutdown) that allows senators to sue the federal government because their phone records were subpoenaed in 2023 by the special counsel investigating Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election.Most Republicans in the House have derided the measure, while the Senate majority leader, John Thune, remained convinced it was necessary. “The House is going to do what they’re going to do with it,” he said of the lower chamber lawmakers. “It doesn’t apply to them.” However, a number of GOP senators have indicated they’re happy to do away with the provision. This even includes some of the eight lawmakers whose phone data the FBI sought and obtained as part of Jack Smith’s investigation.That vote is currently scheduled for 8:15pm ET.The Senate has now officially received the bill, passed in the House, which calls on the justice department to release the complete Epstein files. On Tuesday the upper chamber passed the legislation with unanimous consent – which means it now heads directly to Donald Trump’s desk for his signature.As I noted in my last post, we’re not clear on when that will be, since his schedule hasn’t been updated. More

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      Jimmy Kimmel on Epstein files congressional vote: ‘Make no mistake – this isn’t over’

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      Late-night hosts celebrated the congressional votes to release the Epstein files and decried Donald Trump’s warm meeting with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.Jimmy KimmelTuesday was “a very big day” in Washington DC, said Jimmy Kimmel on Tuesday evening, as both the House and Senate voted near unanimously to authorize the justice department to release investigative files related to the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.“Ultimately even [speaker] Mike Johnson voted yes on releasing the files,” Kimmel noted, meaning that the bill now heads to the White House, where it will probably66 be signed by Trump.“The goal was to have the bill pass by such a large margin that Trump can’t put his little orange thumb on the scale and give it the old Cheeto veto,” he explained. “But make no mistake: this isn’t over. He’s not giving up. If anyone thinks he’s going to release all of the Epstein files, I’ve got a beautiful East Wing of the White House to sell you.”That’s because even after the vote, “Trump cronies” in the justice department still have the power to withhold information to “protect ongoing investigations, protect innocent people or for reasons of national security”.“But they would never do anything like that, would they?” Kimmel joked. “They’re sworn to protect the constitution of the United States!“Something is fishy,” he added. “Trump rolled over faster than that dog Ghislaine Maxwell gets to play with in her country club prison.”On that note: “It is amazing the kind of special treatment you get when half of the most powerful people from the last 30 years don’t want to see you testifying in court.”Stephen Colbert“When it comes to Congress, it’s increasingly rare that things happen,” said Stephen Colbert on Tuesday’s Late Show. Which made Tuesday, when the House voted 427-1 to release the Epstein files, all the more notable.The measure then headed to the Senate, which passed it unanimously overnight, after the Late Show taping. “Tomorrow, we might know everything he and his pervert buddies did,” said Colbert. “Meaning it’s Epstein Rockin’ Eve – stay up for a ball drop you’re gonna want to miss.”The vote marked “a huge loss for Trump, make no mistake”, he continued. “For going on four months now, Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson fought the release of the Epstein files with every congressional tool they had, and keep in mind: Congress is loaded with some major tools.”“But when it looked like Republicans were defecting en masse and they were going to lose big, they were suddenly all in, like they always were – right, Mike?”Colbert then played a clip of Johnson claiming that “Republicans support maximum transparency. We always have. The president of the United States supports maximum transparency.”“Yes, the president has always supported maximum transparency, a healthy diet of leafy greens and the understated androgynous sensuality of a flat-chested woman,” Colbert mocked. “The president would be here, but he can’t talk right now as he’s jogging to Bible study.”Colbert also criticized Trump’s chummy White House visit with the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman. And when a reporter brought up the murder of the journalist and regime critic Jamal Khashoggi, which US intelligence concluded was authorized by the crown prince, Trump reacted angrily. “Things happen, but he knew nothing about it, and we can leave it at that,” he said. “You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking a question like that.”“Yes, how dare you embarrass our guest!” Colbert mocked. “Now he’s going to feel all self-conscious when he tries to chop up somebody like you.”Seth MeyersAnd on Late Night, Seth Meyers returned to a meeting earlier this month between Trump and representatives from Switzerland, in which they gifted the president a special Rolex desktop clock and a 1kg personalized gold bar. “So now foreign officials are just openly giving him gold?” he wondered. “Trump’s turning into a live-action political cartoon. Next time, someone’s going to give him a big sack with a dollar sign on it.”In a new interview with a British rightwing news channel, Trump said that people will ask him: “What do you recommend for growing your children?”“I don’t know if I want advice on raising children from someone who doesn’t even know it’s called ‘raising children’,” Meyers said, laughing.In the same interview, Trump said: “I’ve never had a drink in my life, and I don’t take drugs.”“Maybe one of the best endorsements I’ve ever heard for drinking and doing drugs,” Meyers quipped. More

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      ‘May I meet you?’ is just the latest in horrible dating advice from billionaires | Arwa Mahdawi

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      Sit down and pay attention, because this column might change your life. I bring you tidings from the Nazi-filled wilderness that is now X, where Maga-adjacent billionaire Bill Ackman has generously decided to dispense romantic advice to the masses. Online culture, Ackman notes, has “destroyed the ability to spontaneously meet strangers”. The antidote to this, he suggests, are four simple words.“May I meet you?”That’s it. That’s the strategy. Ackman used this pickup line throughout his youth and, he says, it served him well. He didn’t even have to put “I’m a billionaire,” in front of the sentence – it was the syntax that women found sexy.“I think the combination of proper grammar and politeness was the key to its effectiveness,” Ackman mused. “You might give it a try.” And by “you”, he explains, he means everyone, not just young heterosexual men. “I think it should also work for women seeking men as well as same sex interactions,” Ackman proclaimed.View image in fullscreenA real man of the people, Ackman took time out of his busy billionaire schedule to add a little more context to his advice, which he explains is motivated by concern about the “next generation’s happiness and population replacement rates”. Per Ackman, you should try to be in motion while chatting someone up. This strategy “works much more effectively when you are moving”, he noted. “So on subways, elevators, escalators, airplanes, buses, and even walking down the street, it is most effective.”I have debased myself for numerous columns (just Google “Arwa Mahdawi accidental laxatives” or “Arwa banana”) but I do have my limits. Walking around the streets of Philadelphia asking women who set off my gaydar “may I meet you?” being one of them.But while I haven’t tried the Ackman approach myself, the advice has gone viral and various other people are giving it a whirl. It’s too early to do a quantitative assessment of its effectiveness but I hope that some enterprising social scientists are applying for funding for a future study. It’s perfect material for a future Ig Nobel prize.While we wait for a peer-reviewed analysis to come out, I must confess that I have my doubts that imposing yourself on strangers in the subway is going to do much to help “population replacement rates”. This may be a wild take but it’s possible that not supporting genocidal wars (Ackman has been a big cheerleader of Israel’s actions in Gaza) that have made prenatal care virtually nonexistent and killed an average of a child an hour, might be more effective when it comes to population replacement. That’s assuming we think all populations are equal, of course.Doing something about the exorbitant price of childcare, and the dire state of public schools in affordable areas of the US might also encourage more people to have kids. Since I’m churning out the hot takes over here, it’s also possible that young people might go out on the town more if the cost of living hadn’t become so expensive, and they had more disposable income. In short: solving underlying social issues that wealth-hoarding billionaires have exacerbated might prove more effective than a grammatically interesting pickup line.But what do I know, eh? I’m not a billionaire. Far better if plebs like me keep quiet and listen to our social and economic betters. So, in that spirit, and in the hopes of solving the population crisis, I have put together a few bits of relationship advice from the rich and infamous:1 Putting a wife to work is a very dangerous thing: avoid at all costsOnce you have found your future spouse through the May-I-Meet™ method, you should try to hold on to them. According to our great leader Donald Trump that means avoiding a working relationship. “If you’re in business for yourself, I really think it’s a bad idea to put your wife working for you. I think it’s a really bad idea. I think that was the single greatest cause of what happened to my marriage with [first wife] Ivana,” Trump told ABC news in 1994. RIP Ivana, who is now dead and buried under the first hole of Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.2 Sabotage your co-worker’s carFox News host Jesse Watters is not a billionaire like Ackman or Trump, but he lives in a mansion so is still worth listening to. During a 2022 episode of the panel series The Five, Watters boasted that he “let the air out of“ now wife Emma DiGiovine’s tires when he “was trying to get [her] to date” him. “She couldn’t go anywhere. She needed a lift, I said, ‘Hey, you need a lift?’ She hopped right in the car,” Watters recalled. The Fox news host was 43 at the time, by the way, and DiGiovine, who is his second wife, was 29 and an associate producer on his show at Fox News. After some backlash about “Deflategate” he claimed this tactic, which he said “works like a charm”, was a joke.3 Cozy up to a sex offender (DO NOT REPEAT THIS INSIGHT)The latest batch of Jeffrey Epstein-related documents to be released reveal that Harvard professor and economist Larry Summers spent years discussing relationship advice with the convicted pedophile. In one 2018 email, Summers forwarded Epstein an email from a woman and asked for advice on when to write back. “Think no response for a while probably appropriate,” Summers said. Epstein agreed: “she’s already beginning to sound needy 🙂 nice.” In another email Summers complained that attitudes to dating had become too woke. The “American elite think if u murder your baby by beating and abandonment it must be irrelevant to your admission to Harvard,” he wrote to Epstein. “But hit on a few women 10 years ago and can’t work at a network or think tank. DO NOT REPEAT THIS INSIGHT.”4 Offer your sperm to strangers over supperIf one is simply concerned with increasing the population rather than meeting a life partner you can always go the Elon Musk route and donate your sperm willy-nilly. According to a 2024 New York Times report, Musk has “offered his own sperm to friends and acquaintances”. The same piece notes: “At a dinner party held at the home of a well-known Silicon Valley executive [in 2023] Mr. Musk offered to provide his sperm to a married couple he had met socially only a handful of times.” (Musk has denied this.) Or, if that sounds too exhausting, you can be like Russian-born billionaire Pavel Durov and fund free IVF treatments for women who use your sperm. Durov now has more than 100 biological children in 12 countries via sperm donation. Perhaps, in the future, one of Durov’s children will bump into one of Musk’s many children and ask: “May I meet you?” More

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      What to know about the US Senate vote on releasing the Epstein files

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      The intensively discussed files related to the disgraced former financier and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein passed a significant milestone on Tuesday when Congress voted overwhelmingly in favor of releasing them.After months of deliberate delays and manoeuvres, the House of Representatives voted by 427 to one in favor of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, legislation which would, if enacted, require the justice department to release all unclassified materials on Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. The Senate has unanimously agreed to swiftly pass the bill, which would then head to the White House for Donald Trump’s signature.Tuesday’s sweeping passage was rendered all but inevitable after the president on Sunday reversed himself and called for the release of the files, declaring “we have nothing to hide” and labelling the controversy over the files a “Democrat hoax”.Trump’s volte-face followed the failure of intense White House efforts to persuade two female Republican members of Congress, Lauren Boebert and Nancy Mace, to withdraw their names from a discharge petition to force the House speaker, Mike Johnson, to hold a floor vote on releasing the files.Faced with the prospect of numerous Republicans defying his wishes by voting with Democrats in favor of releasing the files, the president decided to cut his losses by bowing to the inevitable. Before Trump changed his tune on the files, Thomas Massie, the maverick Republican representative from Kentucky – who had co-sponsored the bill along with Democrat Ro Khanna – had predicted that 100 Republicans would vote for release.In the event, Trump’s green light appeared to have the effect of freeing even more GOP representatives of their previous inhibitions against joining all 214 House Democrats. Clay Higgins of Louisiana, a close Trump ally, was the sole member of the House to vote against the measure; five representatives did not vote.How did it fly through the Senate so fast? The bill appeared headed for at least some resistance in the Senate as of this weekend. John Barrasso, the Republican majority whip, had said he would “take a look” at the bill if it passed the House, but also told NBC’s Meet The Press that he thought Democrats were more interested in turning Trump into “a lame duck president than achieving accountability and transparency” .But that resistance faded in the face of the overwhelming vote in the House. The lopsided vote helped Democrats push the measure through by expedited procedure of unanimous consent, which does not require a formal roll call vote. “The American people have waited long enough. Jeffrey Epstein’s victims have waited long enough,” Chuck Schumer, the top Senate Democrat, said in a floor speech on Tuesday. “Let the truth come out. Let transparency reign.” Will Trump sign it?Trump told reporters on Monday that he would sign the bill if it arrives on his desk. Yet despite this pledge and his late U-turn on releasing the files, Trump could still use his presidential veto power to block passage – though doing so at such a late stage would surely fan suspicions that he has something to hide.Could such a veto be overcome?Yes. A presidential veto can be overridden if both chambers vote to do so by a two-thirds majority. Both chambers already surpassed that in spectacular fashion. The only member of Congress to vote against the bill was Clay Higgons, a Lousiana Republican representative.What cards can Trump play if overwhelming congressional votes compel the justice department to make the files public?Even if Trump signs the bill – whether of his own volition or by force because House and Senate majorities override his veto – his recent announcement of a justice department investigation into prominent figures (other than himself) mentioned in last week’s trove of Epstein emails released by the House oversight committee have fueled fears that any version of the files released could be incomplete or selective.Last Friday, Trump instructed the US attorney general, Pam Bondi, to open an investigation into links between Epstein and former president Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, a former US treasury secretary and ex-president of Harvard University, Reid Hoffman, a venture capitalist noted for funding Democrats and liberal causes, and the bank JPMorgan Chase. The investigation could enable the justice department to withhold certain documents on the argument that releasing them would be prejudicial.In the final analysis, Trump could have ended all uncertainty by ordering the files to be released without waiting for Congress to force his hand. More

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      House votes 427-1 to release Epstein files; Senate majority leader says chamber will take up vote ‘fairly quickly’ – US politics live

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      The US House overwhelmingly approved a bill demanding that the Justice Department release all files related to its investigation into the convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. The finally tally was 427-1, with five members not voting.Cheers rang out in the chamber, when the gavel banged the vote closed.Congressman Clay Higgins of Louisiana, a staunch ally of Donald Trump, was the sole House member to vote against the measure.The near-unanimous vote was the culmination of a months-long effort led by a bipartisan group of House members that initially faced deep opposition from the president and House leadership. But as it became clear the Speaker’s manoeuvring to prevent a vote on the petition would not succeed, Trump reversed course and threw his support behind the effort.The bill next moves to the Senate. If it is approved by the upper chamber, it would then go to Trump for his signature. Trump told reporters on Monday he would sign the legislation if it reached his desk – still an if.Democrats, as well as the bill’s bipartisan sponsors, have called on Trump not to wait for Congress to act and instead to order the Justice Department to release the files, which he has the power to do.Marty Baron, the former executive editor of the Washington Post, called Donald Trump’s remarks on Tuesday, in which the president dismissed concerns about the Saudi regime’s 2018 murder of the Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, “a disgrace” in an email to TheWrap.As our colleague Julian Borger reports, when an ABC News reporter confronted Trump’s guest, Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, over the US intelligence assessment that he ordered the brutal murder of the dissident Saudi columnist, Trump stepped in to defend the Saudi leader, saying that “a lot of people didn’t like” the murder victim before pointing at bin Salman, and adding: “things happened, but he knew nothing about it”.Trump then attacked the reporter, Mary Bruce, and suggested that the FCC should strip ABC of its broadcast license because she asked what the president called “a horrible, insubordinate and just a terrible question” of the Saudi leader, a man the president said was “highly respected”.Trump’s comments were a disgrace,” Baron wrote to TheWrap, a media business outlet. “‘Things happen,’ he said. Actually, someone made them happen. And that was the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. He had Jamal Khashoggi assassinated, and then he and his government lied about what happened.”Trump couldn’t care less about the killing of a journalist unless he viewed that journalist as a supporter of his,” Baron continued. “In this instance, he suggests the killing was justified on the grounds that ‘a lot of people didn’t like’ Khashoggi. And then he ignores the facts of the brutal murder itself, suggesting MBS was clueless. Just when you think Trump has gone as low as possible, he goes still lower.”Three weeks after Trump left office in 2021, US intelligence agencies concluded that the crown prince, known as MBS, “approved an operation in Istanbul, Turkey to capture or kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi” and noted “the Crown Prince’s support for using violent measures to silence dissidents abroad”.

      The US House overwhelmingly approved a bill demanding that the Justice Department release all files related to its investigation into the convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. The finally tally was 427-1, with five members not voting. The near-unanimous vote was the culmination of a months-long effort led by a bipartisan group of House members that initially faced deep opposition from the president and House leadership. But as it became clear the Speaker’s manoeuvring to prevent a vote on the petition would not succeed, Trump reversed course and threw his support behind the effort.

      The bill next moves to the Senate. If it is approved by the upper chamber, it would then go to Trump for his signature. After the House voted today, the Senate’s top Republican, John Thune told reporters that a vote on the bill would happen “fairly quickly”. Thune added that it’s “not likely” the legislation will have any further amendments. This, despite calls from House speaker Mike Johnson and several GOP lawmakers, to make changes to further protect victims’ identities. A reminder, provisions to redact names and child abuse materials are already part of the legislation. For his part, Donald Trump has signaled he would sign the bill if it reached his desk.

      A panel of federal judges has ruled that Texas cannot use the 2025 congressional map for the midterms. Instead, the state must use the 2021 boundaries in the upcoming election. The map, drawn by the GOP lawmakers in Texas at the behest of Donald Trump, was the catalyst of a nationwide redistricting battle. In response, California voters passed a ballot initiative to redraw their own maps, offsetting the five seats that Republicans gained in Texas in the process. In today’s ruling, the judges, which included a Trump appointee, said that the creation of a new map appeared unconstitutional and “racially gerrymandered”.

      Meanwhile, at the White House today, the president welcomed Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, Mohammed bin Salman. It was the crown prince’s first visit to Washingtong since the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in Istanbul. In the Oval Office, Trump brushed off questions from a reporter about MBS’s role in Khashoggi’s killing, saying “things happen”. The president added that bin Salman “knew nothing about it, and we can leave it at that”. In 2021 US intelligence concluded that bin Salman had approved the capture or killing of Khashoggi, a fierce critic of the Saudi regime.

      When it came to matters of business, MBS announced Saudi Arabia was raising its planned investments in the US to almost $1tn, up from $600bn that the Saudis said they planned to invest when Trump visited the kingdom in May. Trump also confirmed that he had agreed to sell the Saudis F-35 fighter jets despite some concerns within the administration that the sale could lead to China gaining access to the US technology behind the advanced weapon system.

      The Department of Education (ED) announced today that it is outsourcing a number of its functions to different agencies, in a move that is part of the administration’s wider plans to totally dismantle the department. The ED said that through six new interagency agreements, with the Department of Labor, Department of the Interior, and Department of Health and Human Services, it would “break up the federal education bureaucracy” and “move closer to fulfilling the President’s promise to return education to the states”.
      The Department of Education (ED) announced today that it is outsourcing a number of its functions to different agencies, in a move that is part of the administration’s wider plans to totally dismantle the department.The ED said that through six new interagency agreements, with the Department of Labor, Department of the Interior, and Department of Health and Human Services, it would “break up the federal education bureaucracy” and “move closer to fulfilling the President’s promise to return education to the states”.Trump ran on the promise that he would do away with the department responsible for the country’s education policy, and in March, he signed an executive order to dismantle the agency. Shuttering it outright requires congressional approval, but under the guise of education secretary, Linda McMahon, the scope of the department has diminished.The House of Representatives just voted to rebuke retiring Democratic congressman Chuy García for what his detractors said was a scheme to ensure that his chief of staff would be the only Democrat left on the ballot next year in his heavily blue district.The resolution, proposed by fellow Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, passed with almost all Republicans in favor, along with 23 Democrats. Three Democrats voted present.Perez accused Garcia of “election subversion” for announcing that he would not seek re-election next year, while, as the Chicago Sun-Times reported, quietly collecting signatures for his chief of staff, Patty Garcia, to be on the ballot. The two Garcias are not related.Democratic party leaders in the House had encouraged members to vote against the resolution, issuing a joint statement where they decried the “misguided resolution” and defending Chuy Garcia as “a good man who has always prioritized the people he represents, even while experiencing unthinkable family tragedy.” His wife is struggling with multiple sclerosis, and Garcia has said he is stepping down on the advice of his cardiologist. In 2023, his office announced the death of his daughter Rosa at the age of 28.Fabiola Rodriguez-Ciampoli, a spokesperson for the congressman, said, “he followed every rule and every filing requirement laid out by the state of Illinois. At a moment like this, he hopes his colleagues, especially those who speak about family values, can show the same compassion and respect that any family would want during a health crisis.”Others disagreed, with longtime Democratic strategist David Axelrod calling his actions “old-style, Chicago machine tactics to ensure his chief-of-staff would be the only name on the Dem ballot. It’s election denial of another kind!”Democratic senator Andy Kim said: “Chuy Garcia’s decision to end his re-election at the last second and plant his chief of staff as the only candidate to succeed him was undemocratic and should not be allowed. Standing against corruption means standing up no matter which political party violates.”John Thune, the majority leader and top Senate Republican, said that a vote on the full release of the Epstein files will happen “fairly quickly”.Speaking to reporters on the Hill after the House voted, almost unanimously, for the justice department to release their complete trove of documents relating to the disgraced financier, Thune said that it’s “not likely” the legislation will have any further amendments. This, despite calls from House speaker Mike Johnson and several GOP lawmakers, to make changes to further protect victims’ identities.A reminder, provisions to redact names and child abuse materials are already part of the legislation.As we mentioned earlier, the sole holdout in today’s vote to release the justice department files on Jeffrey Epstein was Republican congressman Clay Higgins. He said that the bill, in its current form, doesn’t adequately protect victims, survivors, and “thousands of innocent people”.The Louisiana lawmaker added:
      If the Senate amends the bill to properly address privacy of victims and other Americans, who are named but not criminally implicated, then I will vote for that bill when it comes back to the House.
      However, there are provisions in the legislation, as written, which redacts identities and examples of child abuse. If the upper chamber issues an amendment, the House will need to vote on the bill again. A move that the bipartisan co-sponsors say is a delay tactic and unnecessary.In a statement after Tuesday’s vote, congressman Robert Garcia, the ranking Democrat on the House oversight committee demanded that the Senate majority leader John Thune take up the bill “immediately”.“Donald Trump is panicking and trying to stop our investigation. We need to know what he’s hiding, and what powerful men are responsible for the rape and abuse of children and women,” Garcia said. “And let’s be clear – Donald Trump has the power to release the files today. But he chooses to delay and deflect.”He added: “No more lies. No more secrets. We will get justice for the survivors. Release the files, NOW.”The US House overwhelmingly approved a bill demanding that the Justice Department release all files related to its investigation into the convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein. The finally tally was 427-1, with five members not voting.Cheers rang out in the chamber, when the gavel banged the vote closed.Congressman Clay Higgins of Louisiana, a staunch ally of Donald Trump, was the sole House member to vote against the measure.The near-unanimous vote was the culmination of a months-long effort led by a bipartisan group of House members that initially faced deep opposition from the president and House leadership. But as it became clear the Speaker’s manoeuvring to prevent a vote on the petition would not succeed, Trump reversed course and threw his support behind the effort.The bill next moves to the Senate. If it is approved by the upper chamber, it would then go to Trump for his signature. Trump told reporters on Monday he would sign the legislation if it reached his desk – still an if.Democrats, as well as the bill’s bipartisan sponsors, have called on Trump not to wait for Congress to act and instead to order the Justice Department to release the files, which he has the power to do.While the House votes, the Guardian’s congressional correspondent Chris Stein sends this dispatch from Capitol Hill.As the House debates the bill to require release of the government’s investigative files related to alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, survivors of his abuses clapped from the chamber’s gallery, prompting an admonition from the chair.“I rise today to acknowledge the survivors, family members and advocates who are here today and have never given up the legislation in front of us, at its core is about something very simple: The survivors deserve justice. The American people deserve the truth,” said Democratic congresswoman Adelita Grijlava.“Protecting women and children from pedophiles should not be a Democratic issue. Should not be a Republican issue. It should be a human rights issue and a matter of justice. I urge my colleagues to vote yes.”The group broke into applause after Grijalva — who, after a lengthy delay, provided the final signature on a discharge petition that forced a vote on this bill — finished her remarks.The Republican lawmaker presiding over the House then addressed the group, saying “the chair will remind all persons in the gallery that they are here as guests of the House, and that any manifestation of approval or disapproval of proceedings is in violation of the rules of the House.”Jamie Raskin, the Democratic congressman managing the party’s debate, chimed in, saying: “I’ll just add, they’re here as honored guests of the House, and we’re delighted they’re here.”Congressman Jamie Raskin, who has been leading the debate for Democrats on the House floor, issued a forceful rebuttal of the Speaker’s comments before the chamber moved to a vote.“We want the whole truth to come out,” Raskin said, arguing that it was Johnson and Republicans who have been dragging their feet on releasing the files, including delaying the swearing in of Adelita Grijalva, who provided the 218th signature to advance the petition.“Even the British Monarchy wouldn’t put up with this,” Raskin continued. “How about the American democracy? How about we say: ‘No way we’re not going to allow this cover up to go on for one day more.’” More

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      How did your representative vote on releasing the Epstein files?

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      The US House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a bill that will force the release of investigative files related to the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, after Donald Trump and his Republican allies backed down from their opposition amid a scandal that has dogged the president since his return to the White House.Though Trump has for months dismissed the uproar over the government’s handling of the Epstein case as a “Democrat hoax”, he signaled his support for the House bill over the weekend, and said he would sign the measure if it reaches his desk. 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      ‘Please release the records’: Epstein survivors urge Congress over DoJ files

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      A group of survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse gathered outside the US Capitol on Tuesday morning, demanding justice, accountability and the release of the justice department files related to the late convicted sex offender.“It’s time that we put the political agendas and party of affiliations to the side. This is a human issue, this is about children,” Haley Robson, one of the survivors, said. “There is no place in society for exploitation sexual crimes or exploitation of women in society.”The news conference came just hours before the House of Representatives almost unanimously passed a bill to force the release of the justice department’s cache of records related to Epstein, who died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal charges of sex-trafficking minors.“We are exhausted from surviving the trauma and then surviving the politics that swirl around it,” Wendy Avis, who said she met Epstein when she was 14, said. “I am asking Congress, please pass the bill, please release the records, stop making survivors fight alone for the truth.”The measure secured bipartisan support and passed the House on Tuesday.The vote took place after it became clear that it was likely to succeed and after Donald Trump, who has spent the last few months resisting the release of the files and urging Republicans to dismiss the bid, reversed his position and called on Republican lawmakers to back the bill.In an interview with CBS on Tuesday morning, the Democratic representative Ro Khanna, one of the Congress members leading the bipartisan push to release the files, said that he was “very surprised” by Trump’s reversal, adding that the president “was fighting Thomas Massie and me for five months”, referring to the Republican representative who has co-led the effort to force a House vote on this bill.Khanna and Massie stood with the group of Epstein survivors and delivered remarks.“This is one of the most horrific and disgusting corruption scandals in our country’s history,” Khanna said. “Because survivors spoke up, because of their courage, the truth is finally going to come out.”Massie urged the Senate, where the bill gets sent if it passes the House, to “not muck it up”.“If you do anything that prevents any disclosure, you are not for the people and you are not part of this effort,” Massie said.The Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican and longtime Trump ally who has also pressed for the release of the Epstein file, joined Khanna and Massie at the conference.“These women have fought the most horrific fight that no woman should have to fight, and they did it by banding together and never giving up,” Greene said. “That’s what we did by fighting so hard against the most powerful people in the world, even the president of the United States, in order to make this vote happen today.”Greene also referenced her recent clash with Trump, who withdrew his support for her on Friday, after her criticisms and deviations from Trump and his administration on certain topics, including the handling of the Epstein records.“I’ve never owed him anything, but I fought for him, for the policies and for America first, and he called me a ‘traitor’ for standing with these women and refusing to take my name off the discharge petition,” Greene said.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionRobson, the Epstein survivor, also used her remarks at the news conference to speak to Trump directly.“While I do understand that your position has changed on the Epstein files, and I’m grateful that you have pledged to sign this bill, I can’t help but be skeptical of what the agenda is,” she said. “So with that being said, I want to relay this message to you: I am traumatized. I am not stupid.”Another survivor, Jena-Lisa Jones, also addressed Trump directly.“I beg you, President Trump, please stop making this political, it is not about you,” she said.“I voted for you, but your behavior on this issue has been a national embarrassment,” Jones added. “It is time to take the honest moral ground and support the release of these files.”The Epstein case, which has for years been the subject of many conspiracy theories, has plagued the Trump administration for months. Over the summer, the administration faced backlash after the justice department announced it would not release any additional files, despite Trump’s campaign promises. The decision sparked outrage from both sides of the political aisle, with some accusing the administration of a “cover-up”.Last week, the House oversight committee released more than 20,000 documents it received from Epstein’s estate, including an email in which Epstein alleged that Trump “knew about the girls”, which reignited scrutiny over Trump’s past ties to the disgraced financier and intensified calls to release all the justice department and FBI records.Trump has consistently denied any knowledge of or involvement in Epstein’s crimes, and the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, last week dismissed the release of the emails and accused Democrats of “selectively” leaking them “to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump”. More

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      House passes bill to release Epstein files with near-unanimous support

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      The US House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a bill with nearly unanimous support that will force the release of investigative files related to the late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, after Donald Trump and his Republican allies backed down from their opposition amid a scandal that has dogged the president since his return to the White House.The measure now awaits consideration by the Senate, where the Republican majority leader, John Thune, has not said if or when he will put it up for a vote. A spokesperson for Thune did not respond to a request for comment.Chuck Schumer, the top Senate Democrat, announced after the bill’s House passage that he would later on Tuesday ask for the chamber to pass it unanimously.“We have an opportunity to get this bill done today and have it on the president’s desk to be signed into law tonight. We should seize that opportunity,” he said.Though Trump has for months dismissed the uproar over the government’s handling of the Epstein case as a “Democrat hoax”, he signaled his support for the House bill over the weekend, and said he would sign the measure if it reaches his desk. On Tuesday morning, the Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, announced he would vote for it, making its passage certain.Democrats, along with survivors of Epstein and their advocates who were seated in a House gallery, broke into applause after the bill was passed. The sole “no” vote came from Clay Higgins, a Louisiana Republican who said he worried the measure would make public identifying details of witnesses, potential suspects and others caught up in the investigation.Several of the president’s allies who voted for the bill did so only after criticizing it in floor speeches, arguing Democrats were being insincere but that the House could spend no more time on the matter.“As President Trump has stated, we have nothing to hide, nothing to hide here,” said Republican congressman Troy Nehls. “I’m voting to release the files so that we can move on from the [smear] campaign the Democrats have manufactured. God bless Donald J Trump.”Republican judiciary committee chair Jim Jordan argued that Democrats could have pushed for the files’ release during Joe Biden’s presidency. “Why now, after four years of doing nothing? Because going after President Trump is an obsession with these guys.”Even as he announced his support, Johnson criticized the measure for not doing enough to protect victims of Epstein, a financier who died in 2019 by what investigators determined was suicide while he was awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.“Everybody here, all the Republicans, want to go on record to show we’re for maximum transparency, but they also want to note that we’re demanding that this stuff get corrected before it is ever moves through the process and is complete,” Johnson said.Any changes to the bill made by the Senate would require it to be approved again by the House, probably delaying its enactment.Chuck Grassley, the Republican chair of the Senate judiciary committee, wrote on X that he had “been calling for full transparency in the Epstein case since 2019” and that the chamber should vote on the bill “ASAP”.The Epstein case returned dramatically to the public eye in July, when the justice department and FBI released a memo saying they had nothing further to disclose about the investigation. That flew in the face of statements made by Trump and his top officials that indicated they would release more information about Epstein’s offenses and ties to global elites once they took office.Shortly after, four dissident Republicans in the House and all Democrats banded together to force a vote on a bill to release the investigative files, over Johnson’s objections.The leaders of that effort cheered the imminent vote, with the Democratic congressman Ro Khanna calling Tuesday “the first day of real reckoning for the Epstein class”.“Because survivors spoke up, because of their courage, the truth is finally going to come out, and when it comes out, this country is really going to have a moral reckoning. How did we allow this to happen?” Khanna said at a press conference, adding that the case was “one of the most horrific and disgusting corruption scandals in our country’s history.”Trump’s friendship with Epstein has had staying power in American politics as the late disgraced financier had links to many other rich and powerful figures in the US and overseas. The president’s dramatic shift came after it became increasingly apparent that the bill would pass the GOP-controlled House, most likely with significant support from Republican lawmakers. Trump in recent days changed his approach from outright opposition to declarations of indifference.“I DON’T CARE!” the president wrote in a social media post on Sunday. “All I do care about is that Republicans get BACK ON POINT.”Speaking in the Oval Office on Monday, Trump said he did not want the Epstein scandal to “deflect” from the White House’s successes, and claimed it was a “hoax” and “a Democrat problem”.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“We’ll give them everything,” he told reporters. “Let the Senate look at it, let anybody look at it, but don’t talk about it too much, because honestly, I don’t want to take it away from us.”Thomas Massie, an iconoclastic Republican congressman who frequently defies Trump and joined with Khanna to pursue the files’ release, noted the president’s reversal on the Epstein issue.“We fought the president, the attorney general, the FBI director, the speaker of the House and the vice-president to get this win,” he said. “But they’re on our side today, though, so let’s give them some credit as well.”In July, Khanna and Massie turned to a procedural tactic known as a discharge petition to circumvent House leadership and compel a vote on their bill, the Epstein Files Transparency Act, if a majority of the 435-member House signs on.Johnson went to extraordinary lengths to avoid a vote on the the measure, which splintered his conference. Democrats accused the speaker of delaying the swearing-in of the Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva to prevent her from becoming the decisive 218th signatory. She signed her name to the petition moments after officially taking office last week.As president, Trump has the authority to order the justice department to release the documents in its possession, as he has previously done with the government records related to the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr and John F Kennedy.Emails made public last week by a House committee that has opened a separate inquiry into the scandal showed Epstein believed Trump “knew about the girls”, though it was not clear what that phrase meant. The White House said the released emails contained no proof of wrongdoing by Trump.Last week, the president instructed the justice department to investigate prominent Democrats’ ties to Epstein. The US attorney general, Pam Bondi, who earlier this year said a review of the files revealed no further investigative leads, replied to Trump that she would get on it right away and has appointed a prosecutor to lead the effort.The Epstein scandal is a core issue for a swathe of Trump’s rightwing base, some of whom believe in conspiracy theories that surround Epstein and his coterie of powerful friends and associates. Unlike many other issues, the Epstein files have prompted rebellions from Trump’s supporters in politics and the media, who have called on the president to follow through on his campaign promise to release them.Meanwhile, several Epstein survivors have ramped up pressure on Congress and Trump to advance the measure.“It’s time that we put the political agendas and party affiliations to the side. This is a human issue. This is about children,” survivor Haley Robson said at the press conference. “There is no place in society for exploitation, sexual crimes or exploitation of women.”She then addressed her comments to Trump, saying: “While I do understand that your position has changed on the Epstein files, and I’m grateful that you have pledged to sign this bill, I can’t help to be skeptical of what the agenda is.”On Monday night, activists projected an image of Trump and Epstein on to the justice department building, accompanied by the message: “Release the files now.” More