President Donald Trump spent Friday morning melting down on social media after White House advisers made clear a House vote on Jeffrey Epstein was "inevitable."
A senior White House official told CNN that "it was made clear to President Trump" a vote on releasing the Epstein files was "an inevitable reality," and he spent the morning insisting the scandal was an attempt by Democrats to distract from his successes.
"Cost, and INFLATION, were far higher under the Sleepy Joe Biden Administration, than they are now," Trump posted at 10:45 a.m. EST. "In fact, costs under the TRUMP ADMINISTRATION are tumbling down, helped greatly by gasoline and ENERGY. Affordability is a lie when used by the Dems. It is a complete CON JOB. Thanksgiving costs are 25% lower this year than last, under Crooked Joe! We are the Party of Affordability!"
Trump made the same claim about Thanksgiving costs last week and was subjected to a community note on X pointing out that the Walmart website he cited offered a highly misleading comparison between prices in 2024 and 2025.
"The 2025 Walmart Thanksgiving meal contains 15 items while the 2024 meal contained 21 items," fact checkers said. "Additionally, most of the brand name items in the 2024 meal were replaced with Great Value items."
The community note linked to a pair of posts on Walmart's corporate website showing that prices for a sample Thanksgiving meal in 2024 for eight people worked out to $7 per person, with 21 menu items listed (although the store claimed 29 items were used), while a sample meal for 10 people in 2025 came out to under $4.00 per person with 15 items on the menu.
The president also posted multiple times about the Epstein case, which has exploded back into public view after the House returned to session and a discharge petition passed, forcing a vote to compel the Department of Justice to release investigation files, and the House Oversight Committee issued thousands of emails obtained through the late sex offender's estate.
"The Democrats are doing everything in their withering power to push the Epstein Hoax again, despite the DOJ releasing 50,000 pages of documents, in order to deflect from all of their bad policies and losses, especially the SHUTDOWN EMBARRASSMENT, where their party is in total disarray, and has no idea what to do," Trump posted at 9:33 a.m. EST. "Some Weak Republicans have fallen into their clutches because they are soft and foolish. Epstein was a Democrat, and he is the Democrat’s problem, not the Republican’s problem! Ask Bill Clinton, Reid Hoffman, and Larry Summers about Epstein, they know all about him, don’t waste your time with Trump. I have a Country to run!"
He followed that post up an hour later with an announcement that Attorney General Pam Bondi and the FBI would investigate Epstein's relationship with Clinton and the others, as well banks that did business with him.
"Now that the Democrats are using the Epstein Hoax, involving Democrats, not Republicans, to try and deflect from their disastrous SHUTDOWN, and all of their other failures," Trump posted at 10:35 a.m. EST, "I will be asking A.G. Pam Bondi, and the Department of Justice, together with our great patriots at the FBI, to investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s involvement and relationship with Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, Reid Hoffman, J.P. Morgan, Chase, and many other people and institutions, to determine what was going on with them, and him. This is another Russia, Russia, Russia Scam, with all arrows pointing to the Democrats. Records show that these men, and many others, spent large portions of their life with Epstein, and on his “Island.” Stay tuned!!!