Epstein scandal looms over Washington DC
The years-long scandal has inflamed again over the summer and President Trump, who is the master of the media blizzard, can't seem to move on from it. The questions about his ties to the convicted sex offender won't go away. And unhelpfully for the president, many of the loudest voices calling for the release of the 'Epstein files' are from within his loyal base (egged on in the years before the election by none other than Donald Trump Jr and now Vice President JD Vance).
But this week the story moves in the direction of another president: Former President Bill Clinton.
He's been subpoenaed, along with Hillary Clinton, to give testimony on his links to Epstein. President Clinton is on record saying he regrets ever meeting Epstein and never visited his notorious private island and had no knowledge of his crimes.
So has the Republican-led committee that issued the subpoenas just done President Trump a huge favour, drawing the Clintons and the Democrats into the saga?
Possibly not, the same committee is also demanding the release of more Epstein-related documents from the Department of Justice, a reminder that plenty among the MAGA base believe they were promised far more transparency on Epstein from this president.
I'm no stranger to the US beat, having been back and forth several times over the years, often in the summer months. My first impression this time is that the inflation that dominated the election cycle is very real. Prices are high, and so are the stakes for President Trump. He was elected to fix the Biden economy and consumer patience may well be running thin.
It's August, but for the Trump White House, there's no time for silly season. Not in your first year of re-election. Sidebar: Joe Biden's numbers tanked during the Afghanistan debacle of his first August in power and never recovered.
So while the Epstein issue has the social media algorithms in overdrive, Trump's second term will likely be defined by the state of the economy.
To that end, Donald Trump has just fired a top official because he didn't like the latest stats on jobs added in the United States.
Without evidence, he accused her of faking the stats to make him look bad and inflating them before the election to make Biden-Harris look good. The only problem? Biden's last jobs numbers before the election were actually worse than Trump's now.
This is all pretty revealing about the mindset of President Trump. He knows he won the election with a promise to 'make America affordable again.'
Which takes us to tariffs.
Another 25% just whacked on India for buying Russian oil. Make that 50% when you take into account hikes he'd already announced for a slew of countries taking effect this week.
The economic wisdom is that tariffs, which of course are largely paid by US consumers, are inflationary.
And yet President Trump is sticking with them.
It's a big risk.
Kamala Harris was punished for rocketing inflation in the Biden economy. Voters could see it with their own eyes and feel it in their own pockets. But the official numbers told the same story and Biden-Harris paid the price.
And who posted those numbers?
Only the stats chief President Trump just fired.
Bill and Hillary Clinton subpoenaed in widening Epstein probe
President Trump defends sacking of head of US labour stats bureau
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