• Newly released House emails reignite scrutiny of Trump’s past  Epstein ties.
• Dems push for full disclosure of Epstein files, with some Reps joining them.
• Poll shows only 4 in 10 Republicans approve of Trump’s handling of issue.

President Donald Trump was eager to claim victory this week after the record-long US government shutdown ended on his terms. But almost immediately, the White House was forced to battle a familiar bogeyman: Jeffrey Epstein.

A trove of emails released by Democrats in the US House of Representatives on Wednesday reignited questions about Trump’s relationship with the disgraced financier and how much the president knew about Epstein’s alleged abuse of girls.

While the White House swiftly dismissed the effort as a Democratic smear campaign, the headline-grabbing messages underscored a potential vulnerability for Trump that could shadow the president and his Republican Party into next year’s midterm congressional elections.

Trump has weathered controversies that would have sunk many politicians. But the Epstein saga has proven to be a persistent liability that disrupts Trump’s message discipline and complicates his effort to keep his coalition focused on policy rather than scandal.

Some republicans break ranks

Many of Trump’s most loyal supporters believe the government is withholding sensitive documents about Epstein, a convicted sex offender who died by suicide in jail in 2019, that would reveal his ties to powerful public figures.

A handful of Republicans have broken ranks to join Democrats seeking a full documents release, drawing a rebuke from Trump, who called them “soft and foolish.”

“I think the hope was that it would die down and go away, and that was never going to be the case,” said Republican strategist Terry Sullivan, who headed Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s 2016 presidential campaign.

“It’s an impossible issue to handle effectively,” he added. “It’s impossible to prove a negative. If he (Trump) didn’t know anything, how do you prove it?”

Pia Carusone, a Democratic strategist and partner at political consultancy SKDK, said the spectre of Epstein could depress Republican turnout in the 2026 midterm elections if new revelations keep dripping out.

Some Trump supporters for years have fanned conspiracy theories about Epstein’s clients and the circumstances of his death. 

While Trump has not been accused of wrongdoing related to the wealthy financier, he has faced a backlash from supporters over his administration’s refusal, citing privacy concerns, to disclose all Epstein-related investigative files.

“The MAGA base has a way of attaching to insider issues and blowing them up,” Carusone said. “I think he’s very vulnerable on this.”

While nine in 10 Republicans say they approve of Trump’s performance in the White House overall, just four in 10 say they approve of his handling of the Epstein files, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in October.

The White House said it would not be distracted by the Epstein saga.

“Democrats and the mainstream media are desperately trying to use this hoax as a distraction to talk about anything other than Democrats getting utterly defeated by President Trump in the shutdown fight. These emails prove literally nothing,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said.

Unity shows cracks

The president demonstrated near-total control over his party during the 43-day government shutdown. Even with this week’s Epstein emails, some prominent conservative influencers downplayed messages that suggested Epstein believed Trump “knew about the girls.” The messages also showed Trump disapproved of his behaviour and forced Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago social club in Florida.

Trump has repeatedly denied any knowledge of Epstein’s alleged abuse and sex trafficking of girls.

Republican unity has not held around the Epstein issue overall, and Democrats have still managed to cause trouble for Trump.

On the same day the government reopened, a petition supported by all House Democrats and four Republicans got the final signature needed for a vote on a bill to compel the Justice Department to release all files related to Epstein.

High-level Trump aides failed to convince Representative Lauren Boebert to take her name off the Epstein petition, going so far as to meet with her in the Situation Room, a White House space typically used for pressing national security matters.

Republican Representative Nancy Mace, another Trump loyalist, also did not budge in her support for the petition. A source familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity said that when Mace and Trump were unable to connect by phone, she wrote a message to the president that referenced her experience as a sexual assault survivor.

The recalcitrance of Boebert and Mace, members of a Republican congressional conference that has shown almost complete obedience to Trump, suggests the president will have to navigate internal dissent carefully to ensure the Epstein saga does not fracture his party heading into the midterm elections.

After days of declining questions from reporters, Trump broke his silence on Friday night, lamenting how the Epstein affair had distracted from his accomplishments.

“When you talk about the Epstein hoax, what happens is, you’re not talking about how well we’ve done,” Trump told journalists aboard Air Force One. “They want to waste people’s time, and some of the dumber Republicans like that.”

Those comments came just hours after Trump announced that he would ask the Justice Department to investigate Epstein’s ties with JPMorgan and prominent Democrats. The US bank said it regrets its past association with Epstein, who was a client between 1998 and 2013, and did not help him commit “heinous acts.”

Democratic and Republican strategists said the last few days have illustrated the Epstein scandal’s remarkable staying power and its ability to commandeer any news cycle.

The continued attempts by the White House to suppress or deflect news around the saga have had the effect of prolonging the attention paid to it, they said.

“I don’t think anyone could argue that they handled it well,” veteran Republican strategist Alex Conant said, “because we’re still talking about it.”

• Epstein was Democrat, he is not Republican’s problem: Trump.
• FBI says no credible evidence found against Clinton and others.
• Trump and Epstein were friends during 1990s and the 2000s.
  

The US Justice Department said on Friday it will fulfill President Donald Trump’s request to investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to former Democratic President Bill Clinton and JPMorgan, as Trump sought to shift the focus from his relationship with the convicted sex offender.

The move comes two days after a congressional committee released thousands of documents that raised new questions about Trump’s relationship with the late financier, and marks the latest in a series of demands by Trump for federal law enforcement to pursue his perceived political enemies.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said Jay Clayton, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, will lead the investigation.

The Epstein scandal has been a political thorn in Trump’s side for months, partly because he amplified conspiracy theories about Epstein to his own supporters.

Many Trump voters believe Bondi and other Trump officials have covered up Epstein’s ties to powerful figures and obscured details surrounding his death by suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019.

Trump has harnessed the Justice Department to target other perceived political enemies, notably former FBI Director James Comey and New York State Attorney General Letitia James, both of whom were charged after Trump replaced the prosecutor leading the cases.

‘Not how it’s supposed to work’

Legal experts say Trump’s demands could undermine the criminal cases that emerge from those probes, as judges can dismiss cases found to be motivated by “vindictive prosecution” — which both Comey and James have raised, though judges have not yet ruled on their requests to dismiss the cases.

Patrick J. Cotter, a former federal prosecutor, said it was “outrageously inappropriate” for Trump to order the department to investigate individual citizens, adding, “That’s not how it’s supposed to work.”

Along with Clinton, who socialised with Epstein in the early 2000s, Trump said he had asked the Justice Department to investigate former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, and Reid Hoffman, the LinkedIn founder who is also a prominent Democratic donor. All three men were mentioned in the 20,000 Epstein-related documents released by the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday.

“Epstein was a Democrat, and he is the Democrat’s problem, not the Republican’s problem!” Trump wrote on social media. “They all know about him, don’t waste your time with Trump. I have a Country to run!”

JPMorgan said in a statement the US bank regrets its past association with Epstein, who was a client between 1998 and 2013, and did not help him commit “heinous acts.”

Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, Angel Urena, said on X, “These emails prove Bill Clinton did nothing and knew nothing. The rest is noise meant to distract from election losses, backfiring shutdowns, and who knows what else.”

In a post on X, Hoffman called on Trump to release all of the Epstein files, saying his only engagement with Epstein was to raise funds for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“I want this complete release because it will show that the calls for baseless investigations of me are nothing more than political persecution and slander,” he said.

Summers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Justice Department’s decision to acquiesce to Trump’s demand came despite a July memo in which the department and the FBI said there was no “evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties” in the Epstein case.

“This systematic review revealed no incriminating ‘client list,'” the memo said. “There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions.”

Trump faces continued pressure over Epstein

Trump and Epstein were friends during the 1990s and the 2000s, but Trump says he broke off ties before Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to charges of soliciting a minor for prostitution.

Trump has consistently denied knowing about the late financier’s abuse and sex trafficking of underage girls. Still, some of Trump’s most ardent supporters have accused his administration of a cover-up. 

Trump, who frequently engages with reporters, has declined to take questions over the last several days as new revelations about Epstein have become public.

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives is expected to vote next week on legislation that would force the Justice Department to release all of the material it holds on Epstein, who was facing federal charges of sex trafficking minors at the time of his suicide. 

The measure is expected to pass, even after House Speaker Mike Johnson repeatedly maneuvered to try to block the vote. It would also require the Senate to pass similar legislation and Trump’s approval to compel the Justice Department to act.

Just four in 10 Republicans in an October Reuters/Ipsos poll said they approved of Trump’s handling of the Epstein files, well below the nine in 10 who approve of his overall performance in the White House.

Epstein socialised with well-known figure

JPMorgan paid $290 million in 2023 to some of Epstein’s victims to settle accusations that it had turned a blind eye to his sex trafficking. The deal followed embarrassing disclosures that JPMorgan ignored internal warnings and overlooked red flags about a valued client. The bank did not admit wrongdoing in the settlement.

No credible evidence has surfaced that Clinton, Summers or Hoffman were involved in Epstein’s sex trafficking. All have previously denied wrongdoing and have expressed regret about their relationships with him.

Clinton flew on Epstein’s private jet several times before the financier’s 2008 conviction, while Summers accepted philanthropic gifts from Epstein while serving as president of Harvard University. Hoffman has acknowledged meeting with Epstein multiple times in professional situations.

Before his 2008 conviction, Epstein worked and socialised with a long list of well-known figures, including the UK’s former Prince Andrew, who was stripped of his royal title due in part to his association with Epstein.

Clayton, the prosecutor who will head the probe into Clinton, JPMorgan and the other figures, is a political independent who chaired the Securities and Exchange Commission during Trump’s first White House term.

• Oil tanker violates law by carrying unauthorised cargo: IRGC.
• Vessel departed from UAE and was heading to Singapore.
• Tanker was carrying 30,000 tonnes of petrochemical cargo.
  

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards confirmed on Saturday that they had seized an oil tanker in the Gulf off the country’s coast, a day after security companies determined they were likely responsible.

“Yesterday morning at 7:30, after a judicial authority ordered the seizure of the cargo of an oil tanker with the trade name Talara and the flag of the Marshall Islands, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) rapid reaction units of the naval forces monitored its movements and intercepted and seized it,” said a statement from the IRGC, the ideological arm of the Islamic republic’s military.

“The tanker was found to be in violation of the law by carrying unauthorised cargo,” the statement continued, adding it “was carrying 30,000 tonnes of petrochemical cargo and was heading to Singapore”.

The vessel had departed from Ajman in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and was heading south through the Strait of Hormuz when it was approached by three small boats, after which it made a “sudden course deviation”, maritime security company Ambrey said.

The US Navy had earlier said it was “actively monitoring the situation”.

“Commercial vessels are entitled to largely unimpeded rights of navigation and commerce on the high seas,” said the US 5th Fleet, which patrols the region.

The Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for global oil and liquefied natural gas, has previously been the scene of similar incidents.

Last year, the Revolutionary Guards seized a container ship, saying it had links to Israel, following a deadly attack on Iran’s consulate in Syria blamed on Israel.