Trump tries to turn page on Epstein saga

The Hill

24-07-2025

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In today's issue:
▪ House panel votes to subpoena Epstein files
▪ GOP challenge to Hochul comes into focus
▪ US upbeat over pending EU trade deal
▪ Trump's AI playbook
The White House is escalating its push to move on from the Jeffrey Epstein controversy, even as the story keeps growing and GOP lawmakers step up efforts to get files from the Justice Department.
Wednesday's news cycle was dominated by a Wall Street Journal report that Attorney General Pam Bondi informed Trump in May that his name appeared in the Epstein files. Other outlets have confirmed the reporting.
The disclosure reportedly came during a broader briefing on the reexamination of the case by federal agents and prosecutors. Also present at the meeting was the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche.
The White House on Wednesday brushed off the revelation, with communications director Steven Cheung saying in a statement that 'the fact is that the President kicked [Epstein] out of his club for being a creep.'
'This is nothing more than a continuation of the fake news stories concocted by the Democrats and the liberal media, just like the Obama Russiagate scandal, which President Trump was right about,' he added.
As White House officials try to end speculation about the Epstein files and shift attention to other matters, House Republican leaders are muddying the waters — seeking information but also spreading blame to Democrats.
ON CAPITOL HILL, the House on Wednesday broke for its weeks-long August recess, closing up shop one day earlier than planned as the chamber remained in a logjam over material on Epstein, a disgraced financier and sex offender. But Democrats managed to gain last-minute Republican support for their Epstein-related amendments in the Oversight and Reform Committee.
A House Oversight subpanel on Wednesday approved several subpoenas including one directing the DOJ to turn over materials relating to the Epstein files. The federal law enforcement subcommittee also approved a motion to subpoena several high-profile Democratic officials, including former President Clinton, for their testimony.
The panel approved the Epstein motion, offered by Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), in an 8-2 vote, with GOP Reps. Nancy Mace (S.C.), Scott Perry (Pa.) and Brian Jack (Ga.) joining Democrats in favor. Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) will be required to sign the subpoena before it can officially be issued, according to committee rules.
'The public deserves to know who was complicit in Epstein's heinous crimes, including people with immense power in our government,' ranking member Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) said in a statement. 'Today's vote was just the first step toward accountability, and we will continue pushing for the truth.'
The motions for subpoenas come after the full Oversight committee on Tuesday approved a subpoena for Epstein's former associate Ghislaine Maxwell, who is in prison for aiding Epstein in child sex trafficking. Comer officially issued that subpoena on Wednesday.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said the House will take 'appropriate action' when it returns to Washington in the fall if the Trump administration does not release the Epstein files.
'This information should have come out a long time ago,' Johnson told reporters. 'I've been an advocate of that, we all have. But that process is underway right now, and we've got to zealously guard that and protect it and make sure it's happening.'
The DOJ is separately also looking to speak with Maxwell in the 'coming days,' Blanche said Monday.
▪ The Hill: Johnson on Wednesday openly questioned if Maxwell would be a credible witness.
▪ The Hill: A federal judge in Florida rejected the Justice Department's request to unseal grand jury transcripts from investigations into Epstein.
Senate Republicans, meanwhile, are not happy with the House conservatives who have hijacked the congressional agenda to make the disclosure of Epstein files their burning focus, writes The Hill's Alexander Bolton. The House is about to leave town for a five-week recess despite having passed only two of the regular appropriations bills for fiscal 2026.
'You can't do anything because of Epstein,' one senior GOP senator fumed. 'Wow, what a way to shut it down. … How does it happen? We're supposed to be focusing on governing the country. Let's not get caught up in the tabloid exposé stuff. Let's keep the government open. Let's pass appropriations bills. Let's do the boring stuff of governing and let other people get all ginned up about who's sleeping with who.'
▪ The Hill: Senate Republicans miffed as House bolts for recess while they stay behind.
AS CONGRESS TAKES ACTION, the White House has moved to cloud the narrative surrounding the Epstein saga by releasing a flurry of other files — from allegations of an Obama-era 'hoax' about Russian interference in the 2016 election to documents about the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. — prompting criticism the moves are a distraction.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Wednesday released another tranche of documents alleging Obama administration officials misled the public about Russian interference in 2016.
The DOJ later announced a task force to look into Gabbard's allegations that Obama and his aides ordered an investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign's connections to Russia to destroy his electoral chances. Bondi said in a statement the task force would 'leave no stone unturned.'
The allegations against former President Obama were so severe, and in the view of some Democrats so outlandish, that they elicited a rare public statement from the former president's office.
'Out of respect for the office of the presidency, our office does not normally dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of this White House with a response,' Obama spokesperson Patrick Rodenbush said in a statement. 'But these claims are outrageous enough to merit one. These bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction.'
Bondi, who released the original Justice Department memo saying there was no Epstein 'client list,' referred back to that memo in response to the Journal's reporting Wednesday. She and Blanche said in a statement that 'nothing in the files warranted further investigation or prosecution. '
As the MAGA base keeps demanding answers, Democrats see Epstein as a perfect attack point against Trump.
'It's the first time we've got his a– on something for real, and it's just a clean, clean hit,' Mike Nellis, a Democratic strategist, told NBC News. 'He can't get off of it.'
Editor's note: Blake Burman's 'Smart Take' will return next week.
3 Things to Know Today
Trump's birthright citizenship executive order, which would deny citizenship to anyone born in the U.S. without at least one parent who has permanent legal status, cannot go into effect anywhere in the U.S., the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has ordered an increase in the number of immigrants shackled with GPS-enabled ankle monitors.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia must be released by the government to his home state of Maryland under supervision with additional requirements for any future deportation, two judges ruled separately. The migrant has been held on charges in Tennessee.
Leading the Day
RED IN BLUE: The New York gubernatorial contest came into sharper focus on Wednesday when moderate Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, who represents a purple suburban district north of New York City, decided he'll seek reelection to the House rather than enter a GOP gubernatorial primary to try to unseat Gov. Kathy Hochul (D).
That cheered former House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (N.Y.), an ally of the president who recently noted her eagerness to go up against Hochul (' not if, but when '). Stefanik was briefly Trump's nominee to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and forfeited that opportunity in March to remain in the House when Trump and party leaders began fretting about the party's razor-thin dominance ahead of a string of major legislative lifts.
Stefanik commended Lawler as 'great, effective and hardworking' and committed to 'protecting the House Republican majority.' She said she'll announce her plans after local and county elections in November. Some analysts suggest that in a Democratic state, conservative Stefanik, who is unflinchingly allied with the president, will face a tough battle.
TAR HEEL STATE: Democrats exulted in North Carolina on Wednesday after reports that popular former Gov. Roy Cooper (D) would run for the open Senate seat next year to be vacated by retiring Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). It will be one of the biggest 2026 Senate campaigns and opened a door to downtrodden Democrats to challenge the GOP agenda. Trump won North Carolina by about 3 points in last year's presidential contest. Cooper's plans were first reported by Axios.
On the GOP side, Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley will run for the seat with the president's blessing after Lara Trump, his daughter-in-law, opted not to seek the seat, Politico reported.
MAPPING POLITICS: The Texas House of Representatives will hold a hearing at 3 p.m. to listen to public opinion about the state Legislature's attempt to redraw its federal congressional map. Trump argues the Lone Star State could gerrymander its districts to come up with five additional GOP House seats to bolster his party's House majority. C-SPAN will broadcast the hearing.
▪ The Hill: Redistricting war heats up, threatening to roil the midterms.
TRADE AND TARIFFS: Trump sounded upbeat late Tuesday about reaching a trade agreement with the European Union before an arbitrary Aug. 1 deadline the president extended early this month. The 27 member states in the EU make up the world's largest trading bloc.
'We have Europe coming in tomorrow, and the next day we have some other ones coming in,' Trump said while referring to this week's surprise announcement of a framework trade agreement with Japan.
▪ Bloomberg News: The EU sees progress toward a U.S. deal with 15 percent tariffs on European imports, similar to a framework struck with Japan.
▪ Financial Times: Brussels could agree to what Trump calls 'reciprocal' tariffs to avoid the U.S. threat to raise levies to 30 per cent on Aug. 1. Both governments reportedly would waive tariffs on some products, including aircraft, spirits and medical devices. Meanwhile, France and Germany pressed the EU to prepare retaliatory responses against the U.S.
'Talks are going better than they had been' with the EU, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Bloomberg TV on Wednesday. ' We are making good progress.'
But EU officials have hesitated to voice similar optimism when questioned by reporters. ' Contacts between both sides continue, but until President Trump speaks his mind we don't have anything concrete. Everything still remains in the open, ' one official told CNBC on Wednesday.
In North America, Canada rejects cutting a trade deal 'at any cost ' with the U.S. and complains about the ever-transactional negotiator Trump. Prime Minister Mark Carney played down the odds of success. Ontario Premier Doug Ford said, ' Donald Trump is very, very hard to deal with just because it's so fluid, it's constantly moving. You talk to him one day and all of a sudden, he's on some media outlet saying there's a 35 percent tariff.'
Where and When
The Senate will convene at 10 a.m.
The president will sign bills and executive orders at 3 p.m. in the Oval Office. Trump will head to Federal Reserve headquarters in Washington at 3:45 p.m. to scrutinize renovations while escalating his public pressure on central bank Chair Jerome Powell over monetary policy. The president will return to the White House by 5:10 p.m.
The House is in recess and resumes work in Washington on Sept. 2.
Zoom In
With his focus firmly on Beijing and a U.S. goal to excel in the global sprint to export artificial intelligence (AI) technology, Trump on Wednesday criticized copyright and regulatory enforcement efforts while touting the White House's new AI Action Plan.
In remarks at an event hosted by the 'All-In' podcast and the Hill and Valley Forum in Washington, the president said stringent copyright enforcement was unrealistic for the AI industry and could hobble U.S. companies, particularly in competition with China.
'You can't be expected to have a successful AI program when every single article, book or anything else that you've read or studied, you're supposed to pay for,' he said. 'You just can't do it because it's not doable. … China's not doing it.'
'You can't have one state holding you up,' Trump continued. 'We need one common sense federal standard that supersedes all states, supersedes everybody.'
Trump ordered the Office of Management and Budget to hold back AI-related funding if states have regulations that could hinder federal investment 'effectiveness.' The plan instructs the Federal Communications Commission to assess AI and regulatory issues presented by the Communications Act of 1934.
▪ The Hill: Trump on Wednesday signed a trio of executive orders to fast-track data center construction and to target 'woke' AI.
CLEAN SLATES: International students are scrubbing their social media — or in some cases reevaluating their decision to study in the U.S. — after the Trump administration announced new visa screenings without offering specifics, The Hill's Lexi Lonas Cochran reports.
The government is investigating whether Harvard University should be allowed to enroll international students. Harvard said in a statement that a State Department investigation 'is yet another retaliatory step taken by the administration in violation of Harvard's First Amendment rights.'
The Department of Homeland Security earlier this year attempted to take away Harvard's ability to enroll or host foreign students at its university, but the initiative was struck down in court.
Meanwhile, Columbia University reached an agreement with the Trump administration that it said would restore federal grant funding in exchange for paying a federal penalty of more than $200 million.
▪ The Hill: The administration announced an additional probe against George Mason University, making it the fourth since Trump took office.
▪ The Hill: Five universities are under investigation over scholarships for 'Dreamers.'
Elsewhere
ISRAEL: White House envoy Steve Witkoff plans to meet in Rome today with senior Qatari and Israeli officials for Gaza ceasefire and hostage talks, Axios reports. Meanwhile, negotiators from Hamas and Israel are holding indirect negotiations in Doha on the last sticking points. Sources told Axios the meeting in Rome is a signal a deal might be days away.
Meanwhile, more than 100 aid and rights groups, including Save the Children and Doctors Without Borders, warned that 'mass starvation' was spreading across Gaza. Their statement adds to growing calls for Israel to lift restrictions on humanitarian aid to the enclave.
Agence France-Presse (AFP), the French news service, is calling on the Israeli government to allow its freelance journalists to leave Gaza because of the worsening hunger crisis.
'Since AFP was founded in 1944,' the agency's Society of Journalists said on the social platform X, 'we have lost journalists in conflicts, some have been injured, others taken prisoner. But none of us can ever remember seeing colleagues die of hunger.'
▪ NBC News: The Israeli military says it 'accidentally' hit Gaza's only Catholic church last week, blaming the strike on a munitions misfire.
UKRAINE: Russia and Ukraine met for a third round of ceasefire talks in Istanbul today, amid recent new threats by Trump to impose harsh sanctions on Moscow should it fail to agree to a peace deal by early September. The talks, which lasted a mere 40 minutes, provided an early litmus test of how seriously Moscow perceives Trump's threats.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky initiated the latest round of talks with a public challenge for Russia to speed up negotiations, proposing a 'leaders' summit' in August. It marks the third in a series of meetings that have resulted in several mass prisoner exchanges but made little, if any, progress toward stopping the fighting.
▪ NBC News: Ukrainians are taking to the streets to protest a law signed by Zelensky that curbs the country's top two anti-corruption agencies.
▪ The Washington Post: Ukraine's top commander asks Trump to help take the war to Russia.
Opinion
Trump learns the political price of conspiracy theories, Karl Rove writes in his Wall Street Journal column.
The world must see Gaza's starvation, guest essayist Mohammed Mansour writes in The New York Times.
The Closer
And finally … 🦈 It's Thursday, which means it's time for this week's Morning Report Quiz! Because it's Shark Week, we're chumming for smart guesses about Washington's brushes with oceangoing apex predators.
Be sure to email your responses to [e-mail] and [e-mail] — please add 'Quiz' to your subject line. Winners who submit correct answers will enjoy some richly deserved newsletter fame on Friday.
As we mentioned, it's Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, a popular tradition since 1988. How did it get its start?
1. Executives sought to boost summer viewership
2. 'Jaws' author Peter Benchley dreamed it up
3. A cartoon version featuring Disney's Bruce the shark (' Fish are friends, not food') was the inspiration
4. A mammoth great white shark washed up on a British beach that year, sparking international television coverage
Which president as a young man famously floated for four hours in a raft in 'shark-infested waters'?
1. Franklin D. Roosevelt
2. Teddy Roosevelt
3. George H.W. Bush
4. Jimmy Carter
Which lawmaker is a former marine scientist who sponsored the SHARKED Act (Supporting the Health of Aquatic systems through Research, Knowledge, and Enhanced Dialogue Act), which the House passed for a second time this year?
1. Rep. Laura Gillen (D-N.Y.)
2. Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.)
3. Florida State Rep. Tobin Rogers 'Toby' Oberdorf (R)
4. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.)
Which president signed into law the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act, aimed at prohibiting the sale, purchase and possession of shark fins in the United States?
1. Lyndon Johnson
2. Richard Nixon
3. Ronald Reagan
4. Joe Biden