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    Marjorie Taylor Greene says she’s had ‘warnings for my safety’ after posts by Trump

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    Marjorie Taylor Greene, a longtime Republican ally who previously fiercely defended Donald Trump and his Maga movement, said on Saturday she had been contacted by private security firms “with warnings for my safety” after Trump announced on Friday he was withdrawing his support for and endorsement of the Georgia representative.In a post on X, Greene said that “a hot bed of threats against me are being fueled and egged on by the most powerful man in the world”, without referring to Trump by name, adding it was “the man I supported and helped get elected”.Greene said that “aggressive rhetoric attacking me has historically led to death threats and multiple convictions of men who were radicalized by the same type rhetoric being directed at me right now. This time by the President of the United States.”Greene did not specify any threats against her that had been received by security firms, but said that “as a woman I take threats from men seriously. I now have a small understanding of the fear and pressure the women, who are victims of Jeffrey Epstein and his cabal, must feel.”The post is the latest in an increasingly bitter war of words with Trump, primarily over the release of government-held documents relating to Jeffrey Epstein, which Greene supports. The House speaker, Mike Johnson, is expected to hold a vote next week to decide whether to release the entirety of unclassified communications and documents.“Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Green is a disgrace to our GREAT REPUBLICAN PARTY!” Trump fumed on social media, a day after ending his support for Greene, calling her “Wacky Marjorie” and saying he would endorse a challenger against her in the next midterm election “if the right person runs”.Earlier on Saturday, Greene posted on X that she never thought she would be in the position of “fighting to release the Epstein files, defending women who were victims of rape, and fighting to expose the web of rich powerful elites would have caused this, but here we are”.The dispute between Greene and Trump, simmering for months, has broken out into the open as the once solid Maga supporter has found herself opposing Trump on a series of issues, including US military aid to Israel, the government shutdown and the so-called “Epstein files”.That has led Trump to accuse Greene of going “Far Left” as she offered a series of dissenting opinions against the Maga mainstream. Trump wrote that all he had witnessed from Greene in recent months was “COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN!” adding: “I can’t take a ranting Lunatic’s call every day.”Greene said she had supported Trump “with too much of my precious time, too much of my own money, and fought harder for him even when almost all other Republicans turned their back and denounced him”. Greene added: “I don’t worship or serve Donald Trump.”Trump has indulged flame wars before with otherwise loyal political allies, including Elon Musk, only to make up after a cooling-off period. Like Musk, Greene’s newfound opposition appears rooted in what both see as a dilution of Trump’s “Americas first” political philosophy, including grappling with foreign peacemaking projects.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionThe trajectory of Greene’s dissatisfaction dates to at least May, when she announced she wouldn’t run for a Senate seat and attacked Republican donors and consultants who feared she couldn’t win. She later said she wouldn’t run for Georgia governor and attacked what she said was a political “good ole boy” system in the state.She sided with Maga dissenters, including Tucker Carlson, in June over possible US efforts at regime change in Iran.But as the Epstein files controversy heated up in recent months, she placed herself in opposition to the administration’s reluctance to release the documents and videos in full. In September, she said she wanted to expose the “Epstein rape and pedophile network” and asked people to remember she is “not suicidal” should something happen to her.Earlier this month, Greene sharply criticized her party during an appearance on The View, describing the Republican-controlled Congress as “an embarrassment” for not being in session for more than a month and saying she’d grown “really tired of the pissing contest in Washington DC between the men”.Asked whether she planned on becoming a Democrat, she said both political parties had failed and called for women to step in and steer the country. “Our red-white-and-blue flag is just being ripped to shreds,” she said. “And I think it takes women of maturity to sew it back together.” More

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      ‘Trump is inconsistent with Christian principles’: why the Democratic party is seeing a rise of white clergy candidates

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      He grew up on a farm in Indiana, the son of a factory worker and eldest of five children. He studied at Liberty, a Christian university founded by the conservative pastor and televangelist Jerry Falwell, and recalls wearing a T-shirt expressing opposition to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.Two decades later, Justin Douglas is running for the US Congress – as a Democrat.He is among around 30 Christian white clergy – pastors, seminary students and other faith leaders – known to be potential Democratic candidates in next year’s midterm elections, including a dozen who are already in the race. While stressing the separation of church and state, many say that on a personal level their faith is calling them into the political arena.The trend marks a break from a traditional racial divide. Whereas Black pastors who run for office are typically Democrats, their white counterparts are usually Republicans, reflecting the strength of the religious right and the party’s dominance among evangelical voters.Douglas, 41, based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is among a new generation of the Christian left aiming to change that narrative by ensuring that the Democratic brand is not associated with only college-educated urbanites, but can also connect with white working-class churchgoers.“We’ve seen Democrats time and time again sell out working-class people and we’ve seen Democrats time and time again look like liberal elitists who are looking down on people who think going to church on Sunday is a core part of their life,” said Douglas, who has been in ministry for more than 20 years. “Some people might feel judged for that.“But I also think the stereotypes of Republicans being pro-faith are bullshit too. We’re seeing a current administration bastardise faith almost every day. They used the Lord’s Prayer in a propaganda video for what they’re now calling the Department of War. That should have had every single evangelical’s bells and whistles and alarms going off in their head: this is sacrilegious.“But unfortunately, sometimes, when you’re in it, you can’t see it and it takes somebody who has an ability to communicate to that audience, to help show that you’re being manipulated.”For decades, many white Christians were not partisan and often voted Democratic, especially in the south. But by the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Democratic party’s identity was shifting toward civil rights, feminism and secular liberalism. Many white conservative Christians felt increasingly alienated from the party they had long inhabited.The racial divide can in part be traced to the mid-1970s when the Internal Revenue Service began removing tax-exempt status from private schools that discriminated by race. Conservative Christian leaders such as Jerry Falwell saw this as federal overreach and seized on abortion as an issue that could be framed in religious and political terms.Falwell’s organisation the Moral Majority used abortion as a broader symbol of moral decline alongside feminism, sex education and gay rights. His followers then felt betrayed when Jimmy Carter, the first evangelical Christian to occupy the White House, failed to pursue their priorities.View image in fullscreenThey defected to Republican Ronald Reagan, and, by the end of the 1980s, white evangelicals had become one of the most consistently Republican voting blocs, even as Black churchgoers remained loyal to Democrats. That has persisted over the past decade under Donald Trump, seen by critics as vulgar and unchristian but by supporters as a blunt instrument to defend a church under siege by a godless liberal culture.Whereas Carter earned 60% of the white evangelical vote in 1976, fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton gained only a 16% share in 2016. It was a troubling realignment that caught the eye of Doug Pagitt, a pastor and executive director of the progressive Christian group Vote Common Good.He said: “That’s not natural. That’s not just a policy change. There was something more significant going on. It’s been a two-sided effort. Republicans have oriented themselves primarily around religious voter identity and Democrats have set aside religious voter identity, including the fact that in 1992 Democrats removed from the voter access file the category of religious identity.”Pagitt said Charlie Kirk’s organisation Turning Point USA was vital in turning out young Christian voters for Trump last year: “The difference couldn’t be more stark, which is why white clergy running for office is such a big deal when they’re running as Democrats in Iowa, in Arkansas, in Pennsylvania, in California.”Trump’s first election was the trigger for a new wave of white clergy to overcome fears of being seen as partisan and run for elected office. Pagitt added: “After 2016 and 2018, a whole lot of people started thinking: ‘Hey, maybe running for office is something we should actually do.’“Few people are surprised when Raphael Warnock says: ‘I’m a working pastor at Ebenezer Baptist church.’ He comes from the Martin Luther King tradition, from that pulpit, and it made sense: people are like: ‘Yeah, of course a Black clergyman’s going to run as a Democrat.’ But when a white woman pastor in Iowa says, ‘I’m going to run as a Democrat,’ it’s a real statement. It’s taken some of these people a little while to get comfortable with the fact that they are going to be partisan.”Vote Common Good was founded in response to a schism created by the election of Trump, which left many religious people feeling “politically homeless”. The group operates as a “dating service”, connecting these voters with Democrats and non-Maga Republicans. The group will spend time in 50 congressional districts this year helping candidates meet faith voters and leaders in their districts.Douglas is a county commissioner looking to unseat Republican Scott Perry in Pennsylvania’s 10th district. But he was previously the lead pastor of a growing church that allowed LGBTQ+ individuals to participate fully in its community; over the course of a year, this developed into a huge bone of contention and in 2019 Douglas eventually lost his licence. He had to find a new house and go from one job to three jobs including driving an Uber and CrossFit coaching. He started a new church that is still operating today.Douglas recalls: “I paid the price for standing with the LGBTQ+ people. I would do it again. It taught me that doing what’s right is often costly but always necessary, and everyone deserves to be safe, respected and fully included. That’s not a religious belief. It’s a human belief that I have.”James Talarico, a Texas state representative and a 36-year-old part-time seminary student who has amassed a sizable social media following – has become an unlikely standard-bearer in the Democrats’ 2026 Senate primary.In a series of social media posts, he deploys scripture to champion the poor and vulnerable while castigating Republicans for what he casts as their drift towards Christian nationalism and corporate interests. He asked in one: “Instead of posting the Ten Commandments in every classroom, why don’t they post, ‘Money is the root of all evil’ in every boardroom?”View image in fullscreenIn Iowa, state representative Sarah Trone Garriott, an Evangelical Lutheran pastor, is seeking her party’s nod to challenge Republican incumbent Zach Nunn in what is already billed as one of the nation’s marquee congressional races.In Arkansas, Robb Ryerse, a Christian pastor and former Republican, is mounting a challenge to representative Steve Womack, adopting the slogan “Faith, Family & Freedom” – rhetoric more commonly found in Republican campaign literature.Ryerse, 50, from Springdale, Arkansas, said: “I joke sometimes that the two people who have changed my life more than any others are Jesus and Donald Trump, for very different reasons. Donald Trump is absolutely inconsistent with Christian principles of love and compassion, justice, looking out for the poor, meeting the needs of the marginalised.“But Donald Trump has also used and been used by so many evangelical leaders who want political power. He has used them to validate him to their followers and they have used him to further their agenda, which has been a Christian nationalist culture war on the United States, which I think is bad for both the church and for the country.”White clergy are deciding to run for office, Ryerse believes, in part as a response to the rise of Christian nationalism and the reality that, according to a Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) survey, Trump won 85% of the white evangelical vote in last year’s presidential election.Ryerse said: “We realise, hey, our churches and the people in our churches have been duped by this guy and so rather than hope someone else will clean up the problem, what we’ve seen is a lot of pastors respond with, you know what, I’m going to jump in and I’m going to be a part of the solution.“On a more positive note, there’s also that notion we need to do something for the common good. There’s so much alignment between what I believe personally is good for my neighbour, what it means to love my neighbour, and how that aligns with what public policy ought to be.” More

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      US justice department joins lawsuit to block California’s new electoral map

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      The justice department on Thursday joined a lawsuit brought by California Republicans to block the state’s new congressional map, escalating a legal battle over a redistricting effort designed to give Democrats a better chance of retaking the House of Representatives next year.The 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.“California’s redistricting scheme is a brazen power grab that tramples on civil rights and mocks the democratic process,” said Pam Bondi, the US attorney general. “Governor Newsom’s attempt to entrench one-party rule and silence millions of Californians will not stand.”Democrats have expressed confidence that the newly approved maps will withstand a legal challenge.“These losers lost at the ballot box and soon they will also lose in court,” Brandon Richards, a Newsom spokesperson, said in a statement.Republicans brought the lawsuit the morning after California voters decisively approved the redistricting measure, known as Proposition 50, which suspended the maps drawn by the state’s independent commission and installed new House districts designed to help Democrats secure up to five GOP-held seats. It was the most significant counterpunch by Democrats in the unprecedented redistricting war that began in Texas and spread across the country as Trump attempts to secure House Republicans’ fragile majority for the final years of his second term.The plaintiffs assert that California’s map improperly used race as a factor to heavily favor Hispanic voters in violation of the US constitution. It asks a judge to block California from taking effect.“Race cannot be used as a proxy to advance political interests, but that is precisely what the California General Assembly did with Prop 50,” Jesus Osete, the second-highest ranking official in the Civil Rights Division, said in a statement, quoting from the lawsuit. “Californians were sold an illegal, racially gerrymandered map, but the US Constitution prohibits its use in 2026 and beyond.”The plaintiffs are being represented by the Dhillon Law Group, which was founded by Harmeet Dhillon, who is now assistant attorney general overseeing the US Department of Justice civil rights division. The firm also represented California Republicans earlier this year in their unsuccessful attempt to prevent the special election from taking place.Dhillon has been recused from this case, the justice department said.Unlike elsewhere, where Republican state legislatures have enacted gerrymanders, California’s plan required voter approval, which it received last week, with nearly 65% of the vote.Democrats need to flip just a handful of Republican-held House seats to take control of the chamber in next year’s midterm election. The party that holds the majority will shape the final years of Trump’s second term in the White House, determining whether a unified Republican Congress will continue to deliver on his agenda or whether he will be met with resistance, investigations and possibly even a third impeachment attempt. More

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      Democrats sift through shutdown’s ashes after resistance finally breached

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      More than 42 days ago, beleaguered congressional Democrats employed a tactic they were not known for using – refusing to fund the government unless their demands, in this case, an extension of tax credits that lowered costs for Affordable Care Act health plans, were met.Fast forward to Wednesday evening, and the federal government is back open, the Democrats’ resistance breached by the combined forces of Congress’s Republican majorities and a splinter group of Democratic senators who provided just enough votes to get a funding bill past the chamber’s filibuster.The minority party’s lawmakers are now sifting through the ashes of what wound up being the longest government shutdown in history. Though it was the Republicans whose demands fueled other recent funding lapses, this one ended just like those did: with the minority party winning no concessions from the party in power.And yet, many Democrats are calling it a win anyway, arguing it gave them an opportunity to prove to voters that, despite accusations to the contrary, they are still capable of putting up a fight in Donald Trump’s Washington.“I hope that people in America will see those of us who are willing to stand, and hold the line for them,” said Pennsylvania congresswoman Summer Lee.Nor do they plan to let the issue rest any time soon.“These are choices that are being made,” said Wesley Bell, who may after next year be the only Democratic congressman in Missouri, if the state’s Republican-friendly gerrymander is allowed to stand.“[Republicans] have the majorities in the House, Senate and the presidency, and if they wanted to address the skyrocketing health care costs, they have the ability to do it, and they have a willing partner in Democrats,” he said.The spending standoff was a turnaround from months that the party spent seeing its priorities mauled by the ascendant Republican government, enabled by a conservative-dominated supreme court. The country’s main foreign aid agency was closed, droves of federal workers were fired or urged to resign, the premier federal health program for poor and disabled Americans was downsized and tax cuts directed at businesses and the wealthy were extended forever.Democratic-aligned groups succeeded in getting millions of people to take to the streets in protests nationwide against what they saw as Trump’s executive overreach, but the brutal realities of their poor showing in the 2024 election were unavoidable. Democratic lawmakers had few avenues in Congress to block Trump’s policies, and the supreme court repeatedly turned back legal challenges to his orders.Then Congress was asked to extend the government’s funding authorization beyond the end of September, when it was set to expire, and Democrats saw their chance to issue an ultimatum. The current Affordable Care Act tax credits, which were created under Joe Biden, were to expire at the end of the year, and they wanted them extended. They also wanted the cuts to Medicaid reversed, and an undoing of Trump’s use of rescissions to slash congressionally approved funding.It was strategic ground to make a stand, for Democrats had long put healthcare at the center of their pitch to voters. In the end, all they got in the deal that reopened the government was a promise from John Thune, the Senate majority leader, to hold a vote on a bill to reauthorize the credits. There’s no telling if enough Republicans will support it to pass the chamber, if House Republican leaders would allow it to come up for a vote, or if Trump would sign it.The party may have reaped rewards that are less tangible. Polls consistently showed voters putting more blame on the GOP for the shutdown than the Democrats. Last week, the party swept off-year elections in several states, in part by flipping voters who had turned out for Trump last year.The choice of tactics nonetheless disquieted some in the party. As the shutdown went on, Trump moved to halt payments of the government’s largest food aid program, while federal workers missed paychecks.North Carolina congressman Don Davis, one of six Democrats who voted for the funding bill that ended the shutdown in the House of Representatives, said tales of hardship from his constituents convinced him it was time to end the standoff.“I had a person, a constituent, talking to me, literally in tears. That’s not what I want,” he said. Republicans in North Carolina’s senate recently passed a new congressional map that will make his district more difficult to win next year.All signs point to the reauthorization of government funding being merely a lull in the larger war over healthcare in the United States.The funding bill Congress passed keeps the government open only through January, meaning Democrats could issue another set of demands for their votes then. Just before the House voted to restart funding on Wednesday evening, Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries made clear the party was not letting this defeat deter them.“We will stay on this issue until we get this issue resolved for everyday Americans,” he said. More

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      Trump signs funding bill to end longest US government shutdown

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      The longest US government shutdown in history ended on Wednesday after more than 42 days, following the House of Representative’s passage of a bill negotiated by Republicans and a splinter group of Democrat-aligned senators.The compromise sets the stage for government operations to return to normal through January, while leaving unresolved the issue of expiring tax credits for Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare health plans, which most Democrats demanded be extended in any deal to reopen the government.After it was unveiled over the weekend, the Senate approved the compromise on Monday, and the House followed suit two days later by a margin of 222 in favor and 209 against, with two not voting. Donald Trump signed the bill on Wednesday night, saying “we’re sending a clear message that we will never give in to extortion, because that’s what it was … the Democrats tried to extort our country”.Six Democrats broke with their party to vote for the bill: Adam Gray of California, Tom Suozzi of New York, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, Don Davis of North Carolina, Henry Cuellar of Texas and Jared Golden of Maine. Two Republicans, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Greg Steube of Florida, voted against it.“The Democrat shutdown is finally over thanks to House and Senate Republicans,” House Republican leadership said in a statement.“There is absolutely no question now that Democrats are responsible for millions of American families going hungry, millions of travelers left stranded in airports, and our troops left wondering if they would receive their next paycheck.”In remarks on the House floor shortly before the vote, the Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries had pledged to continue to press for the subsidies’ extensions.“This fight is not over. We’re just getting started,” he said. “Either Republicans finally decide to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits this year, or the American people will throw Republicans out of their jobs next year and end the speakership of Donald J Trump once and for all. That’s how this fight ends.”The spending standoff was the biggest battle between congressional Democrats and Republicans since Trump returned to the White House earlier this year. It resulted in unprecedented disruptions to government services, with the Trump administration ordering cuts to commercial air travel across the country, and the first-ever halt to the largest federal food aid program.Reeling from their election defeats last year, Democrats had seized on an end-of-September expiration of government funding to make a stand on healthcare, a signature issue of the party over the past decade and a half. The Obamacare tax credits were created during Joe Biden’s presidency, and lowered premiums for enrollers of plans bought under the law.Democrats wanted them extended as part of any deal to continue government funding. The party made other demands as well, including curbs on Trump’s use of rescissions to slash money Congress had previously authorized and an undoing of cuts to Medicaid which Republicans had approved earlier in the year. But as the battle went on, it became clear that an extension of the subsidies was the main objective.Republicans, who control both the House and the Senate, counter-offered with a bill to fund the government through the third week of November, without any spending cuts or major changes to policy. They passed the measure through the lower chamber with only a single Democrat in support, but the minority used the Senate’s filibuster to block its passage there.The shutdown began on 1 October, resulting in around 700,000 federal workers being furloughed. Hundreds of thousands of others, from active duty military to law enforcement to airport security screeners, remained on the job without pay.Russell Vought, the White House office of management and budget director known for his hostility towards the federal workforce, seized on the funding lapse to order further layoffs of government employees. He also cut funding for infrastructure projects in states that voted for Kamala Harris last year.Though Trump ordered military members be paid in a move that many experts called likely illegal, other federal workers missed paychecks. Food banks began reporting increased demand as the shutdown went on, with the need worsening after the White House halted payments under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps, citing the government funding lapse.Last week, Sean Duffy, the transportation secretary, ordered a cutback in flights at US airports, saying air traffic controllers were facing unprecedented strain after weeks of unpaid work. Widespread flight cancellations were reported in the days that followed.In the Senate, most Democrats remained onboard with the party’s strategy for weeks. Senate majority leader John Thune held 14 votes on the GOP funding measure, but only three members of the minority caucus ever broke ranks to support it.In early November, Democrats swept off-year elections, winning gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey by significant margins, as well as voter approval for new congressional maps in California that will help the party’s candidates.Democratic leaders said the wins vindicated their strategy in the funding fight, a statement Trump echoed, saying “the shutdown is a big factor” in the GOP’s poor performance. He began pressing Republican senators to scrap the filibuster, which would have negated the 60-vote threshold spending legislation needs to clear in the chamber, where the GOP holds 53 seats.Meanwhile, a small group of moderate members of the Senate Democratic caucus had been negotiating a compromise to end the shutdown. It ended up funding the government through January and undoing the layoffs the Trump administration had ordered after the shutdown began.But it included no additional funding for the Affordable Care Act tax credits – instead, Thune agreed to allow a vote on the issue by mid-December. There’s no telling if it will win the GOP support needed to pass, and Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, has not said he will put any legislation up for a vote.Despite howls of outrage from both House and Senate Democrats, the Senate passed it with 60 votes on Monday: eight from lawmakers in the Democratic caucus, and the rest from Republicans.Yet the fight over the ACA subsidies is unlikely to be over. Enrollers in the plans received notices of premium increases in November because of the tax credits’ expiration. One study predicted they would rise by an average of 26%, potentially bringing them to levels unaffordable to many.With government funding expiring again at the end of January, Democrats could use the opportunity to again demand the subsidies be extended.“Dozens of House Republicans have been claiming over the last few weeks that they know that is something that needs to be addressed,” Jeffries said in a Tuesday interview with CNN.“And now we’re going to have to see some action or whether it was just talk from these House Republicans because Democrats are going to continue to stay in the arena as it relates to dealing with the healthcare crisis that Republicans have visited on the American people.” More

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      Trump calls Epstein emails a Democratic deflection after correspondence alleges president ‘knew about the girls’ – live

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      In a post on Truth Social, the president has addressed the batch of emails released by House Democrats on the oversight committee.“The Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again because they’ll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve done on the Shutdown,” Trump wrote. “There should be no deflections to Epstein or anything else, and any Republicans involved should be focused only on opening up our Country, and fixing the massive damage caused by the Democrats!”Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva was sworn in by Mike Johnson, the US House speaker, on Wednesday, ending a seven-week standoff that prevented the incoming congresswoman from taking her seat and clearing the path for a vote to release the Jeffrey Epstein files.House Democrats burst into applause on the House floor when Grijalva took the oath of office during a ceremonial swearing-in, shortly before the chamber was poised to take up legislation that would end the longest federal government shutdown in US history. The ceremony comes 49 days after Grijalva won a late September special election to succeed her father, the longtime congressman Raúl Grijalva, who died in March.Grijalva’s arrival does more than narrow the already razor-thin Republican majority. She has vowed to become the 218th and final signature on a discharge petition that would automatically trigger a House floor vote on legislation demanding the justice department release additional files on deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

      A new batch of emails released by House Democrats on the oversight committee seemed to suggest that Donald Trump was aware of Jeffrey Epstein’s conduct. In the three emails released, Epstein apparently told his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell that Trump “spent hours” at his house with one of Epstein’s victims. In two other emails to author Michael Wolff, Epstein wrote that “of course he knew about the girls”, referring to the Trump. According to the exchanges, Epstein also solicited Wolff’s advice about how he should handle Trump discussing their friendship in an interview with CNN. “I think you should let him hang himself,” Wolff writes. “If he says he hasn’t been on the plane or to the house, then that gives you a valuable PR and political currency.”

      Later, the committee’s Republican majority countered by releasing its own tranche of 23,000 documents, accusing Democrats of “cherrypicking” the memos “to generate clickbait”. The GOP members also insisted the redacted victim that the late sex-offender refers to in his emails was actually one of his most prominent accusers – Virginia Giuffre.

      At the White House today, the press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said that the new correspondence released today “proves absolutely nothing other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong”. She repeated Republicans’ claims that Giuffre was the unnamed victim. “She maintained that there was nothing inappropriate she ever witnessed, that President Trump was always extremely professional and friendly to her,” Leavitt added.

      For his part, Trump labelled the move by Democrats as “deflection” for their performance during the record-breaking government shutdown. In a post on Truth Social, the president wrote: “There should be no deflections to Epstein or anything else, and any Republicans involved should be focused only on opening up our Country, and fixing the massive damage caused by the Democrats!”

      The Epstein investigation is likely to receive revived interest as the House prepares to return from recess and vote on a bill to reopen the federal government, as Mike Johnson is set to swear in representative-elect Adelita Grijalva after seven weeks of waiting. The soon-to-be Democratic lawmaker is set to be the 218th signature needed on a discharge petition, a procedural tool that would force a vote on the House floor to release the full tranche of Epstein investigation records.

      While the news of the Epstein email drop dominated the day, the House is set to vote on a funding bill to finally reopen the federal government today. Republican leaders, as well as Trump, expect the bill to pass. The extension would extend government funding at current levels through January 2026, along with three year-long provisions that will fund programs at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the USDA and the FDA, and legislative branch operations. It would also reinstate all fired workers that were let go during the shutdown and guarantee back pay for those furloughed.
      At 4pm ET, we can expect the House to reconvene after more than 50 days of recess, and for the Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, to swear in representative-elect Adelita Grijalva.Johnson has staved off the ceremony for the soon-to-be Arizona Democrat for weeks while the government shutdown continued. She’s expected to be the final, and 218th, signature needed to force a vote on the House floor for the full release of the Epstein files.Earlier, CNN reported that top Trump administration officials were planning to meet today to discuss the discharge petition that would force a vote on the House floor to release the complete Epstein files.According to CNN’s source, the planned meeting would include the US attorney general, Pam Bondi; the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche; Kash Patel, the FBI director; and Lauren Boebert, a Republican Colorado congresswoman and a Trump loyalist who has signed on to the effort for the records to be released.In the White House briefing room, the press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, appeared to confirm the meeting, branding it as the latest example of the administration’s commitment to “transparency”.My colleague Adam Gabbatt has put together a helpful timeline of some of the most significant developments in the Epstein saga that continues to dog the administration. Starting in 2019, when Epstein was charged with federal sex-trafficking crimes, and taking us up to the batch of Epstein’s emails released today that suggest Trump knew about the late financier’s conduct.In a post on Truth Social, the president has addressed the batch of emails released by House Democrats on the oversight committee.“The Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again because they’ll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve done on the Shutdown,” Trump wrote. “There should be no deflections to Epstein or anything else, and any Republicans involved should be focused only on opening up our Country, and fixing the massive damage caused by the Democrats!”Ahead of the House preparing to vote on a Senate-passed bill to reopen the government, Democrats in the lower chamber held a press conference on the steps of the Capitol.“Republicans control the House, the Senate and the presidency,” said the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries. “They own the mess that has been created in the United States of America.”Today’s legislation includes none of the healthcare provisions that Democrats made a centerpiece of their fight with the GOP when the government shut down. After some senators in the Democratic caucus broke ranks and voted to pass the bill, much of the party slammed their decision.Today, Jeffries offered more fighting words:
      We work for the American people as we stand on the Capitol steps, ready to continue this battle on the House floor, a battle that we waged week after week after week, and that will continue regardless of the outcome … We’ll continue to fight to stand up for the Affordable Care Act and an extension of the tax credits. We’ll continue to fight for your hospitals. We’ll continue to fight for your nursing homes.
      As the House prepares to vote on a funding bill that would end the longest government shutdown on record, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) has sent a letter to lawmakers in the lower chamber urging them to pass the legislation.“Passing this bill will reopen the government and allow federal employees to return to the work of serving the American people. It will ensure safety and security for our vital transportation systems,” wrote Daniel Horowitz, legislative director of the largest union representing federal workers.The AFGE argues that Senate-passed resolution includes several provisions beneficial for civil servants affected by the shutdown. This includes ensuring back pay to furloughed workers, reinstating those terminated from their positions by wide-scale reductions in force when the government shuttered, and preventing further layoffs while the continuing resolution keeps agencies open through January.Leavitt said that she hadn’t spoken to the president about whether he believes that Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, the former prince, should sit for an interview with congressional lawmakers on the House oversight committee, after they requested his cooperation in their ongoing investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.Responding to question about the validity of the emails released by House oversight Democrats, Leavitt responded plainly. “These emails prove absolutely nothing other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong,” the press secretary said. “Jeffrey Epstein was a member at Mar-a-Lago until President Trump kicked him out because Jeffrey Epstein was a pedophile and he was a creep.”Leavitt repeated Republicans’ statements identifying the redacted name in the batch of emails as Virginia Giuffre. “She maintained that there was nothing inappropriate she ever witnessed, that president Trump was always extremely professional and friendly to her,” Leavitt reiterated, of the outspoken victim of Epstein’s abuse, who died by suicide earlier this year.Leavitt is spending most of her opening remarks blaming Democrats for the longest shutdown on record, as the House prepares to vote on a bill to reopen the government.“The Democrats’ weakness and their unwillingness to buck the fringe members of their party dragged this harmful shutdown on for seven weeks and inflicted massive pain on to the American public,” she said.The White House briefing has begun, and we’ll bring you the latest from Karoline Leavitt as she’ll face questions from reporters.Dominating the news of the day: a small batch of emails released by House Democrats on the oversight committee in which the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein said that Donald Trump “spent hours” at his home in an email to Ghislaine Maxwell – the late sex offender’s accomplice.In one of the email chains in the larger tranche released by the House oversight committee, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (formerly known as Prince Andrew) appeared to tell Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, “I can’t take any more of this,” in March 2011 after a newspaper said they would be running a story about the trio.In the email chain, Maxwell was initially forwarded the press inquiry from the Mail on Sunday from somebody named Mark Cohen, who told her: “FYI, following up on my email of this morning. Again, I have no intention of responding unless you direct otherwise.”After the email was forwarded from Maxwell to Epstein, and then from Epstein to somebody listed as “The Duke” on 4 March 2011, Andrew appears to respond: “What? I don’t know any of this. How are you responding?”Epstein responds: “Just got it two minutes ago. I’ve asked g [sic] lawyers to send a letter. Not sure … it’s so salcisous [sic] and ridiculous, im [sic] not sure how to respond, the only person she didn’t have sex with was Elvis.”Andrew then appears to reply to Epstein, saying:
      Please make sure that every statement or legal letter states clearly that I am NOT involved and that I knew and know NOTHING about any of these allegations. I can’t take any more of this my end. More

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      Arizona’s Adelita Grijalva sworn in after seven weeks in move that could force Epstein vote

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      Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva was sworn in by Mike Johnson, the US House speaker, on Wednesday, ending a seven-week standoff that prevented the incoming congresswoman from taking her seat and clearing the path for a vote to release the Jeffrey Epstein files.House Democrats burst into applause on the House floor when Grijalva took the oath of office during a ceremonial swearing in, shortly before the chamber was poised to take up legislation that would end the longest federal government shutdown in US history. The ceremony comes 49 days after Grijalva won a late September special election to succeed her father, the longtime congressman Raúl Grijalva, who died in March.Grijalva’s arrival does more than narrow the already razor-thin Republican majority. She has vowed to become the 218th and final signature on a discharge petition that would automatically trigger a House floor vote on legislation demanding the justice department release additional files on deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.Already on Wednesday morning, House oversight Democrats released “never-before-seen” Epstein emails that mention Trump, including a 2011 message to Ghislaine Maxwell in which Epstein wrote that Trump “spent hours at my house” with a sex trafficking victim, calling Trump a “dog that hasn’t barked”.A 2019 email to author Michael Wolff states that “of course [Trump] knew about the girls as he asked ghislaine to stop”.But lawmakers say many additional files remain sealed that for now leave unanswered questions about Epstein’s network and associates that a discharge petition could force the House to address.The petition, introduced by Kentucky congressman Thomas Massie and California congressman Ro Khanna in early September, needs just one more signature to force a vote under House rules. Support has come overwhelmingly from Democrats, though Republican representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert and Nancy Mace have also signed on.Democrats accused Johnson of blocking Grijalva’s swearing-in specifically to prevent the Epstein vote. Senator Ruben Gallego of Arizona said that Johnson was “covering up for pedophiles.”If the Epstein files legislation clears the House, it would still need Senate approval. But the vote itself would force lawmakers into an uncomfortable choice between voters demanding transparency about Epstein’s powerful associates and an actively discouraging Donald Trump administration who has pushed to avoid a deeper investigation.Epstein, a financier with connections to numerous high-profile figures, including Trump, died in federal custody in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.While previous document releases have detailed some of his associations, lawmakers have argued that a significant tranche of information remains sealed in justice department files.Johnson kept the House out of session following Grijalva’s victory as part of a strategy to pressure Senate Democrats to vote to reopen the government during the shutdown. The Republican speaker claimed he could not administer the oath while the chamber remained inactive, though Grijalva won a week before the shutdown began and no such House rule exists prohibiting the swearing in of newly elected members during recesses.Democrats also widely rejected Johnson’s explanation, noting in a 180-signature letter that he had sworn in two Florida Republicans earlier this year while the House was out. Arizona’s Democratic attorney general, Kris Mayes, filed a lawsuit last month seeking to force Johnson to seat Grijalva.Johnson defended his actions by claiming he followed precedent set by former speaker Nancy Pelosi, who he said delayed similar ceremonies for Republicans. He insists his decision had nothing to do with avoiding an explosive vote on Epstein-related documents, though that ignores an intense pressure campaign from Trump allies attempting to spare the president from attention due to his longtime social ties with Epstein.Speaking to CNN on Tuesday, Grijalva said she plans to directly confront Johnson about the delay, calling the avoidance “undemocratic”, “unconstitutional” and “illegal”.“This kind of obstruction cannot happen again,” she said. More

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      Top House Democrats vow to oppose shutdown bill over healthcare funding

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      As House Republican leaders move to hold a vote on legislation to reopen the US government, top Democrats vowed on Tuesday to oppose the bill for not addressing their demand for more healthcare funding.Democrats have for weeks insisted that any measure to fund the government include an extension of tax credits for Affordable Care Act health plans, which were created under Joe Biden and due to expire at the end of the year, sending premiums for enrollees higher.With Donald Trump’s encouragement, Congress’s Republican leaders refused, sparking a spending standoff that resulted in the longest government shutdown in US history. But the Democrats’ resolve cracked earlier this week, when a splinter group in the Senate joined with the GOP to craft a compromise bill that reauthorizes government funding through January, without extending the tax credits.The Senate passed that legislation on Monday evening, and the House of Representatives is expected to vote on it on Wednesday afternoon. The House rules committee will consider the bill on Tuesday evening, setting the stage for it to come to the House floor on Wednesday.Top House Democrats oppose it, with the minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, calling it a “partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the healthcare of the American people.“It’s our expectation that the House will vote at some point tomorrow and House Democrats will strongly oppose any legislation that does not decisively address the Republican healthcare crisis,” Jeffries told CNN on Tuesday.The House’s largest ideological caucus, the centrist New Democrat Coalition, has announced its opposition to the measure.“While New Dems always seek common ground, our coalition remains united in opposition to legislation that sacrifices the wellbeing of the constituents we’re sworn to serve,” chair Brad Schneider said.“Unfortunately, the Senate-passed bill fails to address our constituents’ top priorities, doing nothing to protect their access to healthcare, lower their costs or curb the administration’s extreme agenda.”The sentiment appears much the same in the Congressional Progressive caucus, where chair Greg Casar called the measure “a betrayal of millions of Americans counting on Democrats to fight for them”.The Democratic opposition threatens to make for a tight vote for the Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, who has kept the House out of session for more than 50 days inan attempt to pressure Senate Democrats into caving to the GOP’s demands.With a 219-member majority assuming full attendance, Johnson can only afford to lose two votes on the bill, and the Kentucky representative Thomas Massie is likely to vote no.But Democrats may have their own defectors. Maine’s Jared Golden, who last week announced he would not seek another term representing a district that voted for Trump last year, was the only Democrat in September to vote for a Republican funding bill that did not extend the tax credit. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, whose Washington state district is similarly friendly to the president, also expressed her support for that bill.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionBoth lawmakers’ offices did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how they would vote on the Senate’s compromise.The compromise bill cleared the Senate on Monday evening by 60 votes, the minimum it needed to overcome the chamber’s thresholds for advancement. All Republicans supported the measure’s passage except for Rand Paul of Kentucky, along with eight moderate members of the Democratic caucus, several of whom were recently re-elected, or serving their final terms in office.That group was composed of Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Tim Kaine of Virginia, Dick Durbin of Illinois, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, Jacky Rosen of Nevada and Angus King of Maine, an independent who caucuses with the party.While they did not win an extension of the tax credits, the group claimed credit for getting the Republican Senate majority leader, John Thune, to agree to hold a vote by mid-December on extending the subsidies. However, it remains to be seen if enough Republicans will support its passage, and Johnson has not agreed to put the issue to a vote in the House.Though the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, did not back the bill publicly, Shaheen told Fox News on Monday that the group “kept leadership informed throughout” their talks. Progressive organizations who backed Schumer’s strategy during the shutdown have now turned on him, for allowing the compromise to come together.Indivisible announced plans to support Democratic candidates in primaries who oppose Schumer remaining as the party’s leader, and MoveOn joined in the calls for him to bow out.“It is time for Senator Schumer to step aside as minority leader to make room for those who are willing to fight fire with fire when the basic needs of working people are on the line,” MoveOn Political Action’s executive director, Katie Bethell, said. More

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      Democratic candidate for Congress criticizes deal to end shutdown – which her mother voted to advance

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      A Democratic congressional candidate who posted to social media criticism of the bipartisan deal that looks set to end the government shutdown omitted to mention that her mother was among the party’s rebel senators who voted to approve it.Stefany Shaheen, who is seeking to represent New Hampshire in the US House of Representatives, said in the post to X that she “cannot support this deal when [House] Speaker [Mike] Johnson refuses to even allow a vote to extend health care tax credits”.Jeanne Shaheen, her mother and a US senator of New Hampshire, was one of seven Democrats to break ranks with party leadership on Sunday night and vote to advance a funding bill that will end the 40-day shutdown without securing guarantees for healthcare subsidies. Those seven were joined by an independent who caucuses with Democrats.“Clearly we had different approaches here,” Stefany Shaheen said in an interview Monday, reported by the New York Times, after questions arose over her post. “I can’t speak for her. I think she did what she believes is right.”The deal, which extends government funding until 30 January, contains only the promise of a vote on a healthcare bill in the Senate next month, not an extension of tax credits for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that helps keep premiums low, which had been a key Democratic negotiating position.The elder Shaheen, a senator since 2009, said in a statement that she stood by her decision. “This was the only deal on the table. It was our best chance to reopen the government and immediately begin negotiations to extend the ACA tax credits,” she said.The post by her daughter condemning the deal but leaving out her mother’s involvement drew a swift and predictable backlash on social media, mediaite.com reported.“Your mom just ruined your career,” one user on X posted, while another said: “We don’t vote for the children of traitors”.In her post, Stefany Shaheen, a mother of four children whose campaign biography describes her as a “passionate advocate for groundbreaking medical research and a successful entrepreneur and business leader”, said improving healthcare was “the cause of my life”.In a section of her website about why she is running for Congress during the 2026 midterm elections, Shaheen wrote that she knew “it’s not enough to just get mad” when Donald Trump is “crushing medical research, and Republicans [are] slashing Medicaid, and healthcare for kids, seniors, and veterans – all to give big tax breaks to billionaires and corporations”.According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, about 15 million people will lose healthcare by 2034 because of Medicaid and ACA marketplace cuts pushed through by Republicans; an additional 4.2 million people will lose marketplace cover if premium tax credits are not extended, one possible consequence of the vote by Shaheen’s mother and the other Democratic rebel senators.Jeanne Shaheen and another Democrat who voted yes, Dick Durbin of Illinois, have already announced they will be retiring instead of fighting for re-election next year. None of the other five, Catherine Cortez Masto (Nevada), John Fetterman (Pennsylvania), Margaret Wood Hassan (New Hampshire), Tim Kaine (Virginia), and Jacky Rosen (Nevada), must face voters until November 2028.Angus King (Maine) also voted yes as an independent who caucuses with the Democrats. More