The Epstein saga continues to affect Washington: From the Politics Desk
Happy Tuesday! In today's edition, our Congress team breaks down how the Jeffrey Epstein saga is freezing up the House of Representatives. And speaking of the House, Steve Kornacki analyzes how mid-decade redistricting by Republicans in a few key states could alter the math of the midterms.
— Scott Bland
House cancels last day of votes before summer break as Epstein consumes Capitol Hill
By Scott Wong, Kyle Stewart and Syedah Asghar
The GOP-controlled House is cutting short its last workweek before the summer recess because of a fight on Capitol Hill over the release of the government's files on the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The House was scheduled to hold votes on Thursday before lawmakers departed for their five-week recess.
But Republican leaders informed rank-and-file lawmakers on Tuesday that the final vote of the week would now be a day earlier, on Wednesday afternoon. The shift in schedule occurred because of a standoff on the Rules Committee, which decides how legislation comes to the floor but has been ground to a halt by the Epstein issue.
The panel, which is closely aligned with Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., typically passes a rule for legislation on Monday that sets up debate and allows bills to come to the floor for the week. But Democrats had promised Monday to force the committee to take more votes on whether to require the Trump administration to release all remaining files from the Epstein case.
To avoid embarrassing votes on Epstein, Republicans decided to recess the committee and not attempt to pass a rule for bills this week. Without a rule, Republicans would be left with nothing to vote on after Wednesday.
The Epstein saga has dominated chatter on Capitol Hill for more than a week as many Trump supporters have clamored for the release of all documents related to the convicted sex offender and the president and his administration sought to downplay the issue.
It appeared to be dying down in recent days, but the Trump administration breathed new life into the story Tuesday morning, when the Justice Department announced that Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche will meet with Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell in the coming days.
By Steve Kornacki
In the coming weeks, Republicans in Texas and Ohio are expected to redraw their states' congressional maps. Their intent is transparent: to bolster their party's chances of protecting its super-slim House majority in next year's midterm elections.
As it stands now, there are 220 Republican districts, meaning the party can afford a net loss of no more than two seats in 2026 and still keep the House. In theory, the redistricting effort could shift as many as eight seats from the Democratic to the GOP column, although the ultimate yield will depend on how aggressive the GOP gets — and how much the courts and voters will tolerate.
It could also be offset by similar measures from Democrats in blue states like California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom wants to do a redraw of his own but faces a far trickier process.
Yet even if Republicans do emerge from a fresh round of redistricting with a batch of new, safe seats, it may still be woefully insufficient to keep the House, given the dramatic losses that the party in the White House often endures in midterm elections. It was during the first Trump presidency that the GOP coughed up a net 40 House seats in the 2018 midterms, easily losing control of the chamber.
But the structure of the current Republican majority is much different than it was back in '18. Far fewer GOP seats now are in districts that are politically hostile to Trump and a far greater share are in politically safe Trump landslide districts. Nor are there as many marginal GOP incumbents in districts Trump carried only narrowly in the most recent presidential election.
If successful, the redistricting push would amount to another big difference from 2018: It would give Republicans far more opportunities to play offense this time around.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
3 minutes ago
- The Guardian
White House to end US tariff exemption for all low-value overseas packages
The United States is suspending a 'de minimis' exemption that allowed low-value commercial shipments to be shipped to the United States without facing tariffs, the White House said on Wednesday. Under an executive order signed by Donald Trump on Wednesday, packages valued at or under $800 sent to the US outside of the international postal network will now face 'all applicable duties' starting on 29 August, the White House said. The US president earlier targeted packages from China and Hong Kong, and the White House said the recently signed tax and spending bill repealed the legal basis for the de minimis exemption worldwide starting on 1 July 2027. 'Trump is acting more quickly to suspend the de minimis exemption than the OBBBA requires, to deal with national emergencies and save American lives and businesses now,' the White House said in a fact sheet, referring to the bill known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Goods shipped through the postal system will face one of two tariffs: either an 'ad valorem duty' equal to the effective tariff rate of the package's country of origin or, for six months, a specific tariff of $80 to $200 depending on the country of origin's tariff rate.
The Guardian
16 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Aston Martin's 24-hour scramble to get lower US tariffs pays off
Aston Martin scrambled to deliver three months' worth of cars to dealers in the US within 24 hours as it rushed to qualify for lower tariffs that came into effect on 30 June. By invoicing the whole quarter's cars on that same day it avoided having to report a sales slump that might have alarmed investors. The operation may not have matched the drama of the James Bond films that have long featured the brand, but it 'was quite exciting, to put it mildly', said Adrian Hallmark, Aston Martin's chief executive. Donald Trump has shaken the global economy with a trade war, causing a particular stir in the car industry with his imposition of a 25% tariff on 3 April on top of an existing 2.5% levy. Germany's Mercedes-Benz said on Wednesday Trump's border taxes would cost it about €360m (£311m) this year, while the sportscar-maker Porsche said it had taken a €400m hit from the levies in the first half of the year. However, in early May, the US president and Keir Starmer agreed a deal to limit tariffs on 100,000 British-made cars per year to 10%. That rate came into force at one minute past midnight on 30 June, the final day of the second financial quarter. Aston Martin Lagonda manufactures all its cars in factories in Gaydon, Warwickshire, and St Athan, south Wales. It shipped 328 cars to dealers in the Americas between April and June but the majority were sent on 30 June. It was a 'mammoth task', Hallmark said. 'This left us with 24 hours to invoice the entire quarter's-worth of vehicle sales in the US.' The one-day scramble illustrates the tariff turmoil causing headaches for goods exporters around the world. Aston Martin revealed that it had raised prices for US customers by 3% to absorb some of the hit from the border taxes. Getting the cars to dealers early would have meant a big financial blow from absorbing the higher tariff rate, while late arrivals that missed the quarter-end would have meant reporting a big slump in sales. So Aston Martin decided to send hundreds of cars to bonded warehouses in the US – where goods can be stored without being subject to tariffs – before delivery firms raced to get them all to dealers before the end of day on 30 June. Those cars attracted the 10% rate, rather than 27.5%. Other carmakers face higher costs. The EU reached a deal with the US to cut tariffs on most goods including cars to 15%. Mercedes-Benz boss Ola Källenius said he did not expect any improvement on that for the car industry, despite lobbying for a lower rate from Germany's carmakers. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion Aston Martin also said it had cut production and limited exports to the US to try to limit the financial impact. Even after its 30 June operation, Aston Martin could still be hit later in the year when it launches its million-dollar Valhalla, a mid-engine hypercar that it hopes will be a major contributor to profits. However, it is worried that the quota of 100,000 cars covered by the 10% tariff could be used up before it can get the Valhalla to dealers – potentially adding more than £100,000 to the price if importers must pay the 27.5% rate. British companies exported just over 100,000 cars to the US last year, with the bulk being Range Rovers shipped by JLR. The quota could mean an end-of-year race between British carmakers to get their vehicles into the country, with 'pressure on the number of slots available on the 100,000 quota', Hallmark said.
The Guardian
33 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Trump accused of ‘attack on Brazilian democracy' after sanctioning Bolsonaro trial judge
Allies of Brazil's president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, have accused Donald Trump of launching 'a direct attack on Brazilian democracy' after the US treasury slapped sanctions on Alexandre de Moraes, the supreme court judge widely credited with helping save Brazilian democracy from a 2022 rightwing coup. The highly controversial US move was announced on Wednesday by the secretary of the treasury, Scott Bessent, shortly before Trump followed through on a threat to hit Brazilian imports with 50% tariffs by signing an executive order 'to deal with the recent policies, practices, and actions by the government of Brazil'. Trump has partly attributed those tariffs to his outrage at the supposed political 'witch-hunt' against his far-right ally the former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, who is on trial for allegedly seeking to seize power after losing the 2022 presidential election to Lula. De Moraes is presiding over the trial, which is widely expected to result in Bolsonaro being convicted and sentenced to up to 43 years in jail, as well as several other criminal investigations into Bolsonaro and his family. Announcing the Magnitsky sanctions, Bessent accused De Moraes of being 'responsible for an oppressive campaign of censorship, arbitrary detentions that violate human rights and politicized prosecutions – including against former president Jair Bolsonaro'. 'Alexandre de Moraes has taken it upon himself to be judge and jury in an unlawful witch-hunt against US and Brazilian citizens and companies,' Bessent claimed. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, tweeted: 'Let this be a warning to those who would trample on the fundamental rights of their countrymen – judicial robes cannot protect you.' A White House statement confirming the 50% tariffs on Brazil – albeit with numerous major exemptions, including oil, orange juice, timber and aircraft – said they were a result of 'the government of Brazil's politically motivated persecution, intimidation, harassment, censorship, and prosecution of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro and thousands of his supporters'. Hundreds of hardcore Bolsonaro supporters have been put on trial and jailed for taking part in the 8 January 2023 rightwing riots in the capital, Brasília, during which the supreme court, congress and presidential palace were stormed and ransacked. The sanctions were celebrated by Bolsonaro's relatives and supporters, who see US pressure as the only way of helping the former president escape a hefty jail term and, perhaps, save his political future. 'We Brazilians will never forget this action of yours [Rubio and Trump],' tweeted Bolsonaro's congressman son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, who has spent recent weeks in the US lobbying the Trump administration to fight for his father's cause by imposing sanctions. 'Today I have a feeling of mission accomplished but our journey won't end here,' Eduardo Bolsonaro vowed in a social media video. But members of Lula's government denounced the move as a dramatic escalation of what they see as Trump's crusade to undermine Brazilian democracy. José Guimarães, a congressperson from Lula's leftwing Worker's party (PT), called the sanctions 'not just an affront to a supreme court minister … [but also] a direct attack on Brazilian democracy and sovereignty'. 'We will not accept foreign interference in … our justice system,' Guimarães wrote on X, calling the sanctions 'the fruit of a Bolsonaro family conspiracy against Brazil'. Gleisi Hoffmann, a top minister and one of Lula's closest allies, called Trump's move a 'violent and arrogant act' and expressed the government's 'utter repudiation' of the 'absurd' measure. The Magnitsky sanctions were named after Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian tax lawyer who died in a Moscow prison in 2009 after being imprisoned for exposing high-level corruption. They have been used since 2017 to sanction individuals accused of involvement in serious human rights abuses. Past targets have included Saudi Arabian officials involved in the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Nicaraguan officials linked to a deadly crackdown designed to keep its dictator Daniel Ortega in power, Communist party leaders involved in the repression of members of the Uyghur ethnic group in west China and military chiefs in Myanmar involved in alleged acts of ethnic cleansing. Legal experts and human rights activists voiced astonishment and consternation that such sanctions had been used to target a judge in Latin America's largest democracy. Thiago Amparo, an international law and human rights professor from Brazil's Getulio Vargas Foundation, said the sanctions exposed 'Trump's distorted view of what a human rights violation is'. Amparo said Trump appeared to think that one of his ideological allies being given a fair trial for allegedly trying to stage a coup was equivalent to 'torture, genocide or other grave violations … to which laws such as Magnitsky are meant to apply'.
