Justice department will release Epstein files within 30 days, Bondi says
The US justice department will release files from its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein within 30 days, attorney general Pam Bondi has said, after Congress voted nearly unanimously to force Donald Trump’s administration to make them public.
The scandal has been a thorn in Trump’s side for months, partly because he amplified conspiracy theories about Epstein to his own supporters. Many Trump voters believe his administration has covered up Epstein’s ties to powerful figures and obscured details surrounding his death, which was ruled a suicide, in a Manhattan jail in 2019 as he faced federal sex trafficking charges.
At a news conference today, Bondi confirmed that the DOJ will release its Epstein-related material within 30 days, as required by legislation that passed the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and Senate yesterday. “We will continue to follow the law and encourage maximum transparency,” she said.
But that release may not be comprehensive, as the agency may have to hold back material that could impact Trump-ordered investigations of Democratic figures who associated with Epstein.
The department will also protect the identities of any sex-trafficking victims whose names appear in the documents, she said.
Key events
Here’s a recap of the day so far
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The US justice department will release files from its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein within 30 days, Pam Bondi, the attorney general, has said, after Congress voted nearly unanimously to force Donald Trump’s administration to make them public. At a news conference today, Bondi confirmed that the justice department will release its Epstein-related material within 30 days, as required by legislation that passed the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and Senate yesterday. “We will continue to follow the law and encourage maximum transparency,” she said.
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However, the department may have to hold back material that could affect Trump-ordered investigations of Democratic figures who associated with Epstein. They could argue that releasing certain documents would be prejudicial.
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The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has said it will not release a full US jobs report for the month of October, following the country’s longest ever federal government shutdown. Instead, the available figures will be published with November’s data in mid-December, the BLS said. The October data is expected to show negative job growth after about 100,000 federal workers participated in the deferred-resignation program and formally left payrolls in late September during the shutdown.
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In federal court today, Lindsey Halligan, the president’s handpicked choice for interim US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia, and another prosecutor acknowledged that the entire grand jury never saw the final indictment against James Comey. Halligan charged the former FBI director with lying to Congress in September. But when the prosecution was questioned by Judge Michael Nachmanoff today, they admitted that the a new version of the indictment was not presented to the full panel after it rejected one of the charges.
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The US has signalled to Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Ukraine must accept a US-drafted framework to end Russia’s war that proposes Kyiv giving up territory and some weapons, two people familiar with the matter have told Reuters. The sources, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter, said the proposals included cutting the size of Ukraine’s armed forces, among other things. Washington wants Kyiv to accept the main points, the sources said.
Prosecutors admit that entire grand jury did not see final indictment against James Comey
In federal court today, Lindsey Halligan (the president’s handpicked choice for interim US attorney for the eastern district of Virginia) and another prosecutor acknowledged that the entire grand jury never saw the final indictment against James Comey.
Halligan charged the former FBI director with lying to Congress in September. But when the prosecution was probed by Judge Michael Nachmanoff today, they admitted that the a new version of the indictment was not presented to the full panel, after they rejected one of the charges. Instead, Halligan gave the grand jury’s foreperson an updated version to sign. “The foreperson and another grand juror was also present,” she confirmed to Nachmanoff.
“There is no indictment,” said Comey’s attorney Michael Dreeben, arguing that this error is grounds for dismissal.
Joseph Gedeon
A Republican attempt to censure Stacey Plaskett, a Democratic delegate, over her real-time texts with pedophile Jeffrey Epstein collapsed on the House floor on Tuesday night, prompting a confrontation on the chamber floor and accusations that party leaders had struck a deal to protect members on both sides facing ethics controversies.
The measure, which would have formally reprimanded Plaskett and removed her from the House intelligence committee over her text message exchanges with Epstein during a hearing, failed by a vote of 209 to 214.
Republicans Don Bacon of Nebraska, Lance Gooden of Texas and Dave Joyce of Ohio voted with all Democrats against the resolution, while three other Republicans voted present.
When newly released materials exposed Plaskett, a Democrat from the US Virgin Islands, for exchanging real-time messages with Epstein during a 2019 congressional hearing, all Democrats voted against her censure.
Then, immediately after the vote, Democrats withdrew a planned censure resolution against Cory Mills, a Florida Republican representative facing allegations of stolen valor, financial misconduct and domestic abuse. Mills has denied the accusations.
The sequence prompted Lauren Boebert, a representative of Colorado, to shout at fellow Republicans on the House floor, wagging her finger and at one point directly confronting Mills.
Anna Paulina Luna, a Republican representative from Florida, attempted to raise a parliamentary inquiry asking Mike Johnson, the House speaker, to “explain why leadership on both sides, both Democrat and Republican, are cutting back-end deals to cover up public corruption in the House of Representatives”.
“Get it, girl,” Boebert shouted in response.
Bureau of Labor Statistics says October jobs report won’t be released until mid-December
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics has said it will not release a full US jobs report for the month of October, following the country’s longest ever federal government shutdown.
Instead, the available figures will be published with November’s data in mid-December, the BLS said.
The October data is expected to show negative job growth after around 100,000 federal workers participated in the deferred resignation program and formally left payrolls in late September during the shutdown.
The announcement will have major implications for the Federal Reserve, whose officials are debating whether to lower interest rates again when they meet next month.
On this the New York Times notes: “Policymakers have grown more divided in recent weeks, with those inclined to cut rates emphasizing their concerns about the labor market and those hesitant to make a move focusing on the risks posed by inflation reaccelerating again. Typically, new economic data would help to resolve some of those differences. But the Fed will not have much new data in hand much new data before it has to make its decision on 10 December.”
Justice department will release Epstein files within 30 days, Bondi says
The US justice department will release files from its investigation into Jeffrey Epstein within 30 days, attorney general Pam Bondi has said, after Congress voted nearly unanimously to force Donald Trump’s administration to make them public.
The scandal has been a thorn in Trump’s side for months, partly because he amplified conspiracy theories about Epstein to his own supporters. Many Trump voters believe his administration has covered up Epstein’s ties to powerful figures and obscured details surrounding his death, which was ruled a suicide, in a Manhattan jail in 2019 as he faced federal sex trafficking charges.
At a news conference today, Bondi confirmed that the DOJ will release its Epstein-related material within 30 days, as required by legislation that passed the Republican-controlled House of Representatives and Senate yesterday. “We will continue to follow the law and encourage maximum transparency,” she said.
But that release may not be comprehensive, as the agency may have to hold back material that could impact Trump-ordered investigations of Democratic figures who associated with Epstein.
The department will also protect the identities of any sex-trafficking victims whose names appear in the documents, she said.
The US president says the United States is “going to be selling Saudi Arabia some of the greatest military equipment ever built” and says “the airplanes” would be “approved very quickly”.
Yesterday, Trump confirmed the US would sell F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, marking the first sale of the advanced fighter jets to a Middle Eastern state other than Israel.
Trump also says that $270bn in agreements and sales were being signed between “dozens of companies” today.
Trump reiterates that he signed an agreement designating Saudi Arabia a major non-Nato ally at last night’s dinner with the crown prince.
“We’re taking our military cooperation to even greater heights by formally designating Saudi Arabia as a major, non-Nato ally, which is something that is very important to them,” Trump said last night.
The US currently has 19 other countries listed as major non-Nato allies, including Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait and Qatar.
“A stronger and more capable alliance will advance the interests of both countries, and it will serve the highest interest of peace,” Trump said during the dinner.
Donald Trump and Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, have been delivering remarks to the US-Saudi Investment Forum at the Kennedy Center. I’ll bring you any key lines that come out of that here.
US proposals to end Russia’s war involve Ukraine giving up land and some weapons – reports
The US has signalled to Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Ukraine must accept a US-drafted framework to end Russia’s war which proposes Kyiv giving up territory and some weapons, two people familiar with the matter have told Reuters.
The sources, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter, said the proposals included cutting the size of Ukraine’s armed forces, among other things. Washington wants Kyiv to accept the main points, the sources said.
Earlier, we covered Axios’s report of a secret US 28-point peace plan, hammered out with Russia (and without any direct input from Ukraine and other European allies), that is now on the table to end the war. According to Axios’s sources, the plan’s 28 points fall into four general buckets: peace in Ukraine, security guarantees, security in Europe, and future US relations with Russia and Ukraine.
And this morning, Politico reported, citing a senior White House official, that “they expect a framework for ending the conflict to be agreed by all parties by the end of this month – and possibly ‘as soon as this week’”.
Trump administration officials told the outlet last night that they were on the brink of a major breakthrough and it seemed as though the plan would be presented to Zelenskyy as a fait accompli.
“What we are going to present [to Ukraine] is reasonable,” the senior White House official told Politico, with the mood in the administration one in which Zelenskyy, under pressure on the battlefield and at home in the face of a mounting corruption scandal, must accept what’s on offer.
You can follow my colleague Jakub Krupa’s coverage of the war here:
Comey’s lawyers argue that Trump’s public comments prove case is a personal attack
Lawyers for James Comey are arguing that the case against the former FBI director is nothing more than a personal attack, born out of Donald Trump’s desire to prosecute his political adversary.
“This is an extraordinary case and it merits an extraordinary remedy,” Comey’s defense lawyer, Michael Dreeben, said today at a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. Dreeben added that the president’s public comments about Comey are “effectively an admission that this is a political prosecution and not based on evidence”.
A reminder that Comey is charged with lying to Congress in 2020, and has pleaded not guilty.
On Monday, another federal judge found evidence of “government misconduct” in how Lindsey Halligan, the interim US attorney general for the eastern district of Virginia, secured criminal charges against the former FBI director, and ordered that grand jury materials be turned over to Comey’s defense team.
House set to repeal funding bill provision to allow senators to sue government over phone records
Later today, we’re expecting a vote in the House that would repeal a provision tucked into the stopgap spending bill passed last week (which ended the record-breaking government shutdown) that allows senators to sue the federal government because their phone records were subpoenaed in 2023 by the special counsel investigating Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Most Republicans in the House have derided the measure, while the Senate majority leader, John Thune, remained convinced it was necessary. “The House is going to do what they’re going to do with it,” he said of the lower chamber lawmakers. “It doesn’t apply to them.” However, a number of GOP senators have indicated they’re happy to do away with the provision. This even includes some of the eight lawmakers whose phone data the FBI sought and obtained as part of Jack Smith’s investigation.
That vote is currently scheduled for 8:15pm ET.
Senate receives and passes bill to release Epstein files, heads to Trump for signing
The Senate has now officially received the bill, passed in the House, which calls on the justice department to release the complete Epstein files. On Tuesday the upper chamber passed the legislation with unanimous consent – which means it now heads directly to Donald Trump’s desk for his signature.
As I noted in my last post, we’re not clear on when that will be, since his schedule hasn’t been updated.
