One analyst was stunned by President Donald Trump's comments about a slain journalist during a press conference on Monday with Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, the Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia.
Trump was asked about the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi during the press conference. Trump deflected the question and said Khashoggi was a "controversial figure" and that "a lot of people didn't like him." Khashoggi was a prominent critic of the Crown Prince, and America's intelligence community concluded that MBS likely ordered Khashoggi's killing in 2018.
New York Times reporter Zolan Kanno-Youngs discussed Trump's comments on CNN's "The Arena" with Kaisie Hunt.
"He didn't just distancehimself from the question whenthe question came up about U.S.intelligence finding that the Crown Prince likely directed thekilling of Jamal Khashoggi," he said. "Often when there are toughquestions in the Oval Office.I've seen a bunch of thesemeetings now, the president willalmost refer to the foreignleader to answer the questionand defer it. And thisone, he didn't distance himselfor defer. He leaned in andalmost scoffed at the question."
On the same day that Khashoggi's widow ishoping that the White Housecould urge the Saudis to returnthe remains of Jamal Khashoggi,the president answers thatquestion by essentially saying, 'Well, he was a controversialfigure, and many people didn'tlike him,'" Kanno-Youngs continued. "Somebody who was doinghis job as a journalist. It wasstunning. It's a stunningmoment."
Jeffrey Epstein's brother is warning that Republicans are "scrubbing the files" and "sabotaging" the full release, according to reports.
Mark Epstein said Tuesday in an interview with NewsNation that President Donald Trump and Republicans have changed course over releasing the Epstein files because they are making moves behind the scenes to alter them.
“I’ve been recently told, the reason they’re going to be releasing the files and the reason for the flip is that they’re sabotaging these files,” Mark Epstein told NewsNation.
He added that the GOP is “scrubbing the files to take Republican names out" and claimed the files are being sanitized at a "facility" about 78 miles northwest of Capitol Hill in Winchester, Virginia, The Daily Beast reports.
“He didn’t tell me what he knew, but Jeffrey definitely had dirt on Trump,” he said.
“You could see in the emails. Trump could deny it all he wants, but it’s pretty clear everything Trump says is a lie," he added.
Trump has denied any involvement or knowledge of Epstein and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell's sex trafficking ring and abuse of girls. And after weeks of pushing to block the release of the files and pressuring other Republicans not to sign the discharge petition, he decided to reverse his moves and now has asked Republicans to sign the petition to release the files.
The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday voted 427-1 to release the Jeffrey Epstein files and send the discharge petition to the Senate in a move aimed to reveal more information about the disgraced late financier and convicted sex offender and his potential ties to other powerful entities.
Rep. Jesus "Chuy" García (D-IL), a prominent progressive lawmaker from the Chicago area, triggered a firestorm of controversy when he announced his retirement at precisely the filing deadline to run for his district, a move that meant the only candidate who declared for the Democratic primary was his own chief of staff, Patty Garcia.
The congressman, who has said he is retiring due to health concerns and his adoption of a grandchild after the death of his daughter, has faced accusations that he effectively rigged the primary to hand-pick his successor, but denies the accusation. However, paperwork obtained by Politico seems to provide evidence that he was fully aware of and supported the effort by his chief of staff to get on the ballot immediately before his retirement.
"A petition signature page submitted by Patty Garcia to the Illinois Board of Elections shows the representative and his closest allies, whom Chuy García has also helped get elected over the years, signed their names. They include Cook County Commissioner Alma Anaya, Illinois state Sen. Celina Villanueva, state Reps. Aaron Ortiz and Norma Hernandez, and Chicago City Council members Jeylú Gutiérrez and Michael Rodriguez," reported Shia Kapos and Nicholas Wu. "The form is dated Nov. 1, two days before the filing deadline and three days before Chuy García formally announced his retirement."
A spokesperson for the congressman has said this paperwork doesn't prove he manipulated the primary, and that "he did not circulate petitions" for his chief of staff, even though he signed one.
On Tuesday, the House passed a resolution, filed by Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA), reprimanding García's interference in the primary to succeed him.
This came despite the objections of both Illinois Democrats and House leadership, who are broadly standing behind García's decision.
The White House blamed Bloomberg News correspondent Catherine Lucey after President Donald Trump referred to her as "piggy."
On Friday, Lucey had asked Trump about the Jeffrey Epstein scandal during a gaggle aboard Air Force One.
The reporter wondered why the president was defensive, “if there’s nothing incriminating in the files.”
“Quiet. Quiet, piggy," Trump snapped.
Without providing evidence, an unnamed White House official later told The Guardian that Lucey was to blame.
“This reporter behaved in an inappropriate and unprofessional way towards her colleagues on the plane,” the official said. “If you’re going to give it, you have to be able to take.”
Republicans have a problem with President Donald Trump's priorities after recent election losses and upcoming midterm elections, according to reports on Tuesday.
Republicans are concerned about maintaining their MAGA base and asking the president to help them out on the campaign trail, Politico reports.
In response to recent Democratic wins and increased anxiety, "the requests for rallies have started rolling in."
"Depressed turnout is a persistent problem in non-presidential years. And Republicans acknowledge that Trump, whose approval ratings are underwater, can be a liability as well as an asset," according to Politico.
In Wisconsin, GOP Chair Brian Schimming told the outlet that the president's team is aware he wants Trump to visit and campaign to defend two competitive House seats and win statewide races — a state where Trump won by his thinnest margin in the 2024 presidential election. Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) faces reelection next year in his swing district.
And in Tennessee, Democrats are pushing to flip a House seat in a special election with Republican Matt Van Epps facing off against Democrat Aftyn Behn. Last week, Trump held a tele-rally for Van Epps to try and sway voters to vote for him.
Republican insiders tell the outlet that they are calling on Trump to help drive votes in the Rust and Sun Belt states.
"They said Republicans must step up their voter-outreach efforts heading into the midterms, when Democrats need only to net three House seats to regain control of the lower chamber. And they’re looking to Trump to be their triple threat — with his trademark rallies, endorsements and deep campaign coffers," according to Politico.
"Some Republicans also said Trump needs to focus less on his grievances," including gripes with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who helped lead the bipartisan effort to draw a discharge petition and prompt the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files.
“Don’t waste your time going after Thomas Massie,” Todd Gillman, Republican Party district chair in Michigan, told Politico.
The GOP is hoping to add the Senate seat opened after Democrat Gary Peters retires and retain the House seat Rep. John James will vacate in his run for governor.
Gillman suggested that Trump “come to Michigan and fight for John James’ seat so we don’t lose it.”
Trump defended the crown prince — who made his first visit to the United States since the killing of Khashoggi — saying "things happen" and describing Khashoggi as "extremely controversial" in a tense moment after a reporter asked about the journalist's killing.
His widow, Hanan Elatr-Khashoggi, 57, responded to Trump's claims, saying, "This is not justification to murder him."
"The crown prince said he was sorry, so he should meet me, apologize and compensate me for the murder of my husband," Elatr-Khashoggi said.
Khashoggi, a Washington Post opinion columnist, was dismembered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2018.
A U.S. intelligence report during the first Trump administration found the killing was arranged at the crown prince's order.
The House voted on an overwhelming bipartisan basis to compel the release of the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case files — and in the end, even most heavily pro-Trump lawmakers backed the bill, as President Donald Trump, who spent months trying to keep a lid on this legislation and quell a GOP revolt against him, relented and proclaimed Republicans should vote for it and he would sign it.
But one GOP lawmaker voted against the bill: Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA).
Higgins, a former law enforcement officer, got immediately skewered by commenters on the internet for trying to shield information about one of America's most notorious child predators. But he remains unapologetic about his vote, and posted a lengthy explanation for it to X on Tuesday afternoon.
In summary, he argued, while the bill does include provisions to censor the names of victims and pictures of child sexual abuse material, he believes those privacy protections don't go far enough and there are many other classes of innocent people who will be harmed by the release.
"I have been a principled 'NO' on this bill from the beginning," wrote Higgins. "What was wrong with the bill three months ago is still wrong today. It abandons 250 years of criminal justice procedure in America. As written, this bill reveals and injures thousands of innocent people – witnesses, people who provided alibis, family members, etc. If enacted in its current form, this type of broad reveal of criminal investigative files, released to a rabid media, will absolutely result in innocent people being hurt. Not by my vote."
This, he emphasized, doesn't mean he's against there being a public investigation of the Epstein case.
"The Oversight Committee is conducting a thorough investigation that has already released well over 60,000 pages of documents from the Epstein case," Higgins continued. "That effort will continue in a manner that provides all due protections for innocent Americans. 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."
A pardoned Jan. 6 rioter led an anti-Muslim protest in Dearborn, Michigan, that had been planned and then denounced by Republican gubernatorial candidate Anthony Hudson.
On Tuesday, Hudson told the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) that he had abandoned the anti-Muslim protest after visiting area mosques.
However, Jake Lang showed up in Dearborn on Tuesday afternoon in Hudson's campaign bus, which he said he had legally acquired from one of the candidate's former staffers.
"Sharia law is not going to ever stand in America!" Lang shouted after painting the word "cuck" on the bus. "And this traitor here, who bowed down in the mosque last week, Anthony Hudson, we got no room for cowards! We got no room for traitors!"
"You're worse than the Islamic b------s! White men who turn against their own!" he continued. "Islamification of America ends today! Our country is worth fighting for. Europe is worth fighting for. White Western civilization is worth dying for."
Lang pointed to the election of Zohran Mamdani as New York City mayor as proof that Muslims were "taking over every major city."
"They're outbreeding our women, four to one," he complained. "In one generation, the white race completely wiped out. This is a stand for our country, for our posterity."
"The Bible tells us very clearly, what fellowship does light have with darkness? How can a sinner and a righteous person sit at the same table and eat? They cannot!" Lang added. "Look at Australia. Look at London. Look at Rome. These look like third world s—tholes. These are the bastions of white Western civilization that have been taken over in just a half a generation. We will stand strong."
Recent cracks in the MAGA base over the release of the files pertaining to late convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and support of far-right influencer Nick Fuentes, among other things, may make it "difficult for Trump to rally his supporters around whoever he favors," Newsweek explains.
And while Trump has previously floated the unconstitutional idea of running for a third term, that notion has been dismissed, and instead, he is "likely to attempt to cement his influence on U.S. politics by choosing a successor, and whoever follows him will be responsible for guiding the Republican Party through future elections and continuing MAGA policies and the president's legacy," Newsweek says.
A most recent poll by Polymarket shows Vance has a 56 percent chance of becoming the Republican nominee in 2028, while Rubio is a distant second, with an 8 percent chance. But now that others may enter the field, that could change.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), a former Trump loyalist turned foil, has dismissed rumors she will seek the presidency despite a most recent poll showing her chances improving.
Her odds, Newsweek reports, have increased from 2.7 percent in August to 4 percent in November, according to Polymarket.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), who has emerged as a vocal critic of Tucker Carlson, is also reportedly weighing a run, despite poor early polling in which he currently has 4 percent support, trailing Vance who polls at 42 percent according to a separate YouGov poll.
In that same poll, Trump's eldest son Donald Trump Jr., came in distant second at 13 percent. Florida's Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, whose 2024 presidential campaign was eviscerated by Trump, sits at 7 percent and Rubio is narrowly ahead of Cruz at 5 percent.
Calvin Jillson, a politics professor at Southern Methodist University in Texas tells Newsweek that Vance is still poised to be the frontrunner.
"The 2028 presidential race, with no incumbent in the fight, will likely draw at least a dozen contenders, maybe many more on the Democrat side. Though things could change in the coming months, Trump’s vice president, JD Vance, is a strong favorite for the Republican nomination" Jillson says.
"Rubio, Cruz, maybe Tucker Carlson, will wrestle him for it, but the question for Vance and Rubio is how they can stay close enough to Trump to win the nomination without staying so close that Trump’s baggage becomes theirs in the general election," he adds.
Vance's path to the nomination may not be smooth, though, Jillson says, adding that "only if the Trump administration founders will Cruz and Carlson become relevant. But if it happens, expect a cage match, as Trump might say, ‘like no one has ever seen before.'"
The Republican who was the lone "no" vote on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files to prompt the Department of Justice to release the files was brutally mocked online Tuesday after the vote.
The House of Representatives voted nearly unanimously at 427-1 to push the discharge petition forward to the Senate. Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) was the only no vote — and critics delivered sharp responses for the Republican lawmaker on social media:
"F--k Clay Higgins," former Republican strategist Rick Wilson wrote on X.
"Investigate Clay Higgins," a user named Kate, who self-describes as a gamer, wrote on X.
"Apparently Clay Higgins is the sole no vote for releasing the Epstein Files. Imagine wanting protecting pedophiles to be your legacy. What a scumbag," a user named Tony wrote on X.
"This is @RepClayHiggins - he represents #Louisiana's 3rd Congressional District- and is THE ONLY member of the House of Representatives who voted to protect abusers, continue to traumatize survivors of human trafficking and voted AGAINST releasing the #EpsteinFiles. Congressman Higgins is up for re-election in 349 days. Remember his face, remember his name. Remember what he just did. History is watching," writer Nicole Bowman wrote on X.
"Today is a bad day to be Clay Higgins. Almost as bad as January 6th," a user named MM wrote on X.
"All I’m saying is if you have kids, keep them very far away from Rep. Clay Higgins," internet personality Tony Posnanski wrote on X.
"Stay classy, Clay Higgins," director Ben McKenzie wrote on Bluesky.
After a month of losses and setbacks in his plan to push Republicans to rig congressional districts to give themselves extra seats, President Donald Trump suffered a massive blow as a three-judge panel, including a judge he himself appointed, struck down Texas's new congressional districts as an illegal racial gerrymander.
The Texas redistricting was the first salvo in the rush around the country to redraw congressional lines in the middle of the decade, with Republicans in the Lone Star State pushing a new map that adds way more Republican voters to five Democratic-held congressional districts around Austin, Dallas, Houston, and South Texas. Democratic lawmakers in the state staged a protest by fleeing across state lines for around two weeks, and California lawmakers and voters retaliated by passing their own plan to draw out five Republican districts there.
While the decision voiding the Texas map and restoring the five chopped-up Democratic seats is likely to face additional litigation, the move triggered a firestorm on social media, with many commenters mocking the GOP's misfortune and speculating whether Trump's whole project was worth it in the first place.
"Old Don bout to be BIG MAD! I couldn’t be happier for he and his flunky, Abbott," wrote Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX).
"Wow — Texas’ new gerrymander map just struck down," wrote Jaron Zhou, political director at the betting platform Kalshi. "Texas is now at 88% of redistricting, below California and Virginia. If this holds, it could be one of the biggest self-owns from the GOP, given California has already redrawn its map in response."
"Reading the opinion, it seems like the Trump Admin really screwed up here," wrote engineer and urbanism activist Matt Spence. "They told the Texas governor *explicitly* to redraw majority-minority districts. That provides potential grounds for striking down the maps as a racial gerrymander. All the more reason that Democrats and Republicans should join together and ban gerrymandering nationwide. This whole circus is embarrassing and corrosive."
One of the greatest ironies, noted some commenters, is that initially, California lawmakers originally planned to make their Democratic gerrymander legally contingent on Texas' Republican gerrymander going forward — but the version of the ballot proposition that passed didn't include that requirement.
"Since everyone is asking: No, this doesn't undo #Prop50," wrote Redistricting Partners owner Paul Mitchell. "The trigger language was removed in the legislative process as it was clear that TX was redistricting. So, even if their map is invalidated/postponed, the Prop 50 maps stay in place."
A CNN anchor got in a fiery exchange with a GOP lawmaker over the Epstein files on Tuesday, just ahead of the vote.
Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) was in a conversation with CNN's Boris Sanchez about the discharge petition when the conversation turned into a yelling match — with both of the men speaking over each other — after Sanchez brought up questions of what President Donald Trump knows about the information in the files.
Van Orden said he had met with four of the women who are survivors of Epstein, and he plans to vote to call for a release of the information. He also added that there needs to be protections for the victims, but that there were "no adequate" protections for them in the current discharge petition he called "poorly written legislation."
Van Orden blamed Biden and Democrats for not releasing the information sooner.
"I want to be extremely clear and make it clear to our viewers that the president has not been accused of any wrongdoing in these emails or throughout this process, a large portion of them came before he was even in office. But it is notable that the relationship comes up again and again in these emails. Do you have questions for the president about their relationship? Does it make you at all curious about it?"
Instead of answering the question, Van Orden shifted the conversation to Democratic Rep. Stacey Plaskett, who was reportedly live-texting Epstein during an Oversight Committee hearing about the late financier and convicted child abuser.
"Well, here's what else Jeffrey Epstein wrote. He wrote several text messages to congresswoman Plaskett while she was sitting on the Oversight Committee in an oversight hearing about Jeffrey Epstein, and she was asking him what questions to ask Michael Cohen. Now, that would not have come out if this discharge petition was only signed. That only came out because the Oversight Committee subpoenaed the Jeffrey Epstein estate."
Van Orden also claimed that Plaskett received more than $30,000 from Epstein and "refused to return that money." He added that the DNC refused to return a donation of $32,000 from Epstein — calling it "blood money."
Sanchez then tried to shift the conversation back to the president, and Van Orden fired back.
"We have a limited amount of time because you're going to interview her next. Is that right? Is she going to be on your show and explain herself?" Van Orden asked.
"We'd be more than happy to have her on. Congressman, I believe that Mrs. Plaskett has refuted those characterizations. However, that doesn't answer the question of what questions you might have for President Trump based on these emails."
That's when it escalated between the two, and they started yelling.
"Hold on a second," Van Orden said.
"Congressman, I asked you about President Trump's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. You started talking about Mrs. Plaskett. I want to get your thoughts on President Trump and what you might ask him based on this information that's come out," Sanchez said.
"I get it. So you're just not going to get away with this," Van Orden replied.
"They get away with timestamped text messages, timestamped text messages from Jeffrey Epstein..." Van Orden added.
"As I said, Miss Plaskett has refuted those characterizations. I would be more than happy to ask her these questions, but I was asking you specifically, Congressman Van Orden, what questions do you have for President Trump about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, given these emails that we've seen, given the photos of them together, given the videos of them together, when the president says Epstein was only friends with Democrats.
Then, Van Orden tried to calm things down.
"Listen, you and I can refute the fact that we're bald. That doesn't mean we're going to grow hair tomorrow," Van Orden said. "So we have to focus on some really devious things. And when I mean, I don't think people understand what this means. This woman was responsible for the oversight of the investigation of these monsters that abused these women repeatedly. And she's live texting with this guy, and he's telling her what questions to ask the witness. Now, those are questions that really need to be asked, not the hypothetical questions that you're asking me, sir."
Sanchez fired back again before winding the interview down.
"She again, she has refuted that characterization. She's more than welcome to come on our show and discuss it," Sanchez added.
The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday voted 427-1 to release the Jeffrey Epstein files and send the discharge petition to the Senate in a move aimed to reveal more information about the disgraced late financier and convicted sex offender and his potential ties to other powerful entities.
The landmark bill marks a major victory for the survivors, who have waited years for the first steps towards justice. Survivors and family members watched as congressional leaders voted to prompt the Department of Justice to release the material collected in Florida, New York and New Mexico related to Epstein. Cheers sounded from the gallery after the vote, with only one nay vote.
President Donald Trump has worked for weeks to try and block a vote in the House to release the files. He reversed course on Sunday after calling on Republicans to support it.
Critics have argued his shift could be part of a ploy to protect himself by having only a portion of the files made public.
Trump, who has not been accused of misconduct, has been mentioned throughout email exchanges with Epstein in newly released emails from the Epstein estate that suggested the president may have had knowledge of the abuse under Epstein and his confidant, Ghislaine Maxwell.
The vote comes after a months-long effort from Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) to collect 218 signatures on what’s known as a discharge petition, a tool to circumvent House leadership and force a vote on a particular measure on the House floor. That measure is a bill that, if signed into law by Trump, would force the DOJ to release every file it has on Epstein, of which tens of thousands – if not more – are believed to exist.
Much of the files the DOJ currently holds on Epstein were collected during 2019 raids by law enforcement on Epstein’s properties, including his New York home – riddled with cameras – where law enforcement seized hundreds of lewd photos and other evidence, including CDs with hand-written labels with phrases like “Young [Name] + [Name],” and his private island.
Recent reporting also revealed this month that Epstein had done extensive diplomatic work on behalf of the Israeli government, including helping broker a defense agreement between Israel and the West African nation Côte d'Ivoire, helping broker a security cooperation agreement between Israel and Mongolia, and helping establish a backchannel between Israel and Russia amid the Syrian Civil War.
Epstein was accused of abusing dozens of victims in both Florida and New York, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. He died by suicide in jail. Authorities say he recruited the girls and enticed them to visit his mansion in New York City and his estate in West Palm Beach, Florida.
