The Latest: House heads toward vote on releasing Epstein files after Trump backtracks opposition

The House is heading towards a vote on a bill to force the Justice Department to release the case files it has collected on the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, pushing past a monthslong effort by President Donald Trump and Republican leaders to stymie the effort.

The push by lawmakers for more disclosure in the years-old sex trafficking investigation into Epstein has come roaring back since the government reopened after the shutdown.

As it became apparent that the bill will pass the House, most likely with significant support from Republican lawmakers, Trump — who previously fought the proposal — suddenly reversed his position Sunday.

The president said in a social media post that House Republicans should vote to release the files, a rare instance of backtracking because of opposition within Trump’s own party.

The bill would force the Justice Department to release all files and communications related to Epstein, as well as any information about the investigation into his death in federal prison.

Its future in the Senate remains unclear.

The Latest:

Runoff in Texas congressional race set for Jan. 31

Texas is set to have a runoff Jan. 31 to determine which of two Democrats will fill a vacant congressional seat in Houston that will narrow Republicans’ already slim U.S. House majority.

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott set the date Monday for the contest in the 18th District between Christian Menefee and Amanda Edwards.

Many of the district’s current residents will vote in a different district next year under a redrawn map demanded by Trump in an effort to increase the number of GOP seats.

Menefee and Edwards are seeking to serve the final 11 months of the late Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner’s term. Turner, a former Houston mayor, died in March. They advanced in a first-round election Nov. 4 from and all-parties field of 16 candidates.

Menefee is Harris County’s top civil lawyer and Edwards is a former Houston City Council member.

Trump says he will sell F-35s to Saudi Arabia on eve of crown prince’s Washington visit

President Donald Trump said Monday he will sell F-35 advanced fighter jets to Saudi Arabia on the eve of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Washington visit, as he praised the kingdom for its long partnership with the United States.

“I will say that that we will be doing that,” Trump said when asked if he would sell the jets to Saudi Arabia. “We’ll be selling F-35.”

The crown prince, who is set to make a White House visit Tuesday, had been expected to arrive with a wish list that includes receiving formal assurances from Trump defining the scope of the U.S. military protection for the kingdom and an agreement to buy U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets, one of the world’s most advanced aircraft.

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FEMA acting chief David Richardson departs after 6 months on the job, officials say

The acting chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency left his job Monday after just six months, according to the Department of Homeland Security, the latest disruption in a year of mass staff departures, program cuts and policy upheaval at the agency charged with managing federal disaster response.

David Richardson is leaving the post after replacing previous acting head Cameron Hamilton. DHS did not comment on the reason for his departure.

A former Marine Corps officer who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and also led the DHS Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction office, Richardson had no previous emergency management experience when he assumed the role of “senior official performing the duties of administrator” in May.

▶ Read more about acting FEMA acting chief David Richardson

Melania Trump and Usha Vance to visit North Carolina military families on first road trip together

The first lady and second lady of the United States will visit with military communities on Wednesday to show appreciation for those who serve at the holidays, Melania Trump’s office has announced.

The pair will make stops in Richlands, North Carolina; Camp Lejeune; and Marine Corps Air Station New River. Camp Lejeune is the largest Marine Corps base on the East Coast.

Trump and Vance will participate in activities with military-connected students and also address service members and their families.

Trump blames his raspy voice on shouting at people over trade talks

The president’s voice was extremely hoarse on Monday, but he told reporters his health was fine and blamed his sore throat on having to yell at people over trade talks.

“I was shouting at people because they were stupid about something having to do with trade in a country,” Trump said. “And I straightened it out, but I blew my stack at those people,” Trump said.

The president declined to say which country he was yelling at, but he said a “country wanted to try and renegotiate the terms of their trade deal and I wasn’t happy about it.”

Trump said of his health that he feels “great.”

Trump leads meeting with FIFA task force, announces new system for visa interviews

The president is hosting another meeting of the White House’s task force on FIFA as the administration continues preparations for next year’s World Cup in North America.

The Oval Office event was to announce a new initiative that would allow ticketholders to the World Cup to receive prioritized interviews for visas.

The Trump administration is balancing a strict immigration system with ensuring that visitors for the global soccer tournament can enter the United States without issue.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino called the new system the “FIFA pass” - or the “prioritized appointments scheduling system.”

Trump said he “strongly” encourages World Cup travelers to the U.S. to apply for their visas “right away.”

Conservative think tank sees more fallout over Tucker Carlson

One of the 14 members of the Heritage Foundation’s board of trustees has announced his resignation over the think tank’s position defending an interview commentator Tucker Carlson did with a white nationalist Nick Fuentes, who has praised Adolf Hitler and spewed antisemitic conspiracy theories. President Donald Trump defended Carlson over the same interview last night.

Robert P. George, a trustee and a Princeton University professor, said he could not stay without a full retraction of Heritage President Kevin Roberts, who defended Carlson for his interview and drew outrage from staffers.

George had earlier said he felt the conservative movement could not treat the ideas of those “who openly preach white supremacy and the hatred of Jews” as legitimate.

Comey’s lawyers had sought the grand jury materials

“The Court recognizes that the relief sought by the defense is rarely granted,” Fitzpatrick wrote “However, the record points to a disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps, missteps that led an FBI agent and a prosecutor to potentially undermine the integrity of the grand jury proceeding.”

The 24-page opinion is the most blistering assessment yet by a judge of a criminal case against Comey that is already subject to multiple other challenges, including motions seeking its dismissal on the grounds that the interim U.S. attorney who filed the charges, Lindsey Halligan, was illegally appointed and that the prosecution itself constitutes a vindictive prosecution.

The sole prosecutor who defense lawyers say presented the case to the grand jury was Halligan, a former White House aide with no prior prosecutorial experience who was appointed to the job just days earlier.

Judge scolds Justice Department for ‘profound investigative missteps’ in Comey case

The Justice Department engaged in a “disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps” when it secured an indictment against former FBI Director James Comey, a federal judge ruled Monday in directing prosecutors to produce to defense lawyers all grand jury materials from the case.

Those problems, wrote Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick, include “fundamental misstatements of the law” by a prosecutor to a grand jury that indicted Comey in September, the use of potentially privileged communications in the investigation and unexplained irregularities in the transcript of the grand jury proceedings.

North Carolina governor says Trump administration is ‘stoking fear’

Democrat Josh Stein said the Border Patrol effort to arrest immigrants in Charlotte isn’t making his state’s largest city any safer.

The Trump administration has made the Democratic city of about 950,000 people its latest target for an immigration enforcement surge it says will combat crime, despite fierce objections from local leaders and downtrending crime rates. Charlotte residents have reported encounters with federal immigration agents near churches, apartment complexes and stores. One U.S. citizen was targeted twice within minutes, going into and out of a restaurant.

“We’ve seen masked, heavily armed agents in paramilitary garb driving unmarked cars, targeting American citizens based on their skin color, racially profiling, and picking up random people in parking lots and off of our sidewalks,” Stein said in a video statement late Sunday. “This is not making us safer. It’s stoking fear and dividing our community.”

The Department of Homeland Security has said it’s focusing on North Carolina because of so-called sanctuary policies.

Trump and Mamdani will ‘work something out,’ president says

Trump indicated he plans to meet with New York City’s mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in what could be a detente for the Republican president and Democratic political star who have cast each other as political foils.

Trump has for months slammed Mamdani, falsely labeling him as a “communist” and predicting the ruin of his hometown, New York, if the democratic socialist was elected. He also threatened to deport Mamdani, who was born in Uganda and became a naturalized American citizen, and to pull federal money from the city.

Mamdani, for his part, has become a symbol of the resistance to Trump and his administration’s anti-immigrant agenda, but said he’s willing to work with anyone, including the president, if it can help New Yorkers.

“We want to see everything work out well for New York,” Trump said Sunday.

Foreign enrollment at US colleges holds steady, for now

Foreign students enrolled at U.S. colleges in strong numbers this fall despite fears that a Trump administration crackdown would trigger a nosedive, yet there are signs of turbulence as fewer new, first-time students arrived from other countries, according to a new report.

Overall, U.S. campuses saw a 1% decrease in international enrollment this fall compared with last year, according to a survey from the Institute of International Education. But that figure is propped up by large numbers of students who stayed in the U.S. for temporary work after graduating.

The number of new students entering the United States for the first time fell by 17%, the sharpest decrease since the COVID-19 pandemic. International students at the graduate level saw the biggest backslide this fall, with a 12% drop.

Some universities are seeing backslides that have punched big holes in tuition revenue.

Trump administration has pressed for fewer foreign students

The Trump administration has sought to reduce America’s reliance on foreign students. The White House is pushing colleges to cap enrollment of foreign students and enroll more from the U.S. In June, the State Department began screening visa applications more closely after temporarily halting all interviews.

Visa processing has continued to lag in some countries, including India, the largest source of America’s foreign students. Education firms have reported that future college students are now showing decreased interest in the U.S. and more in Europe and Asia. While international enrollment remained relatively steady, there are concerns about its sustainability.

“There are warning signs for future years, and I’m really concerned about what this portends for fall ’26 and ’27,” said Clay Harmon, the executive director of AIRC: The Association of International Enrollment Management, which represents colleges and recruitment agencies.

New analysis shows more US consumers are falling behind on their utility bills

Past due utility balances jumped 9.7% annually to $789 between the April-June periods of 2024 and 2025, said The Century Foundation, a liberal think tank. That overlaps with a 12% jump in monthly energy bills during the same period. It’s a warning sign for the U.S. economy and another political headache for Trump.

Consumers usually prioritize keeping their lights on and heating their homes along with their mortgages and auto debt, said Julie Margetta Morgan, the foundation’s president. The increase in both energy costs and delinquencies could mean they’re falling behind on other bills, too.

Troubles paying electricity and natural gas bills reflect an economic quandary as Trump promotes the artificial intelligence industry as a key part of the economic boom he’s promised. AI data centers massively use electricity, threatening higher bills for everyday Americans.

Trading on Wall Street is mixed ahead of first US government employment data in more than six weeks

Nvidia’s profit report Wednesday could suggest whether AI company stocks are overvalued. And in the absence of government produced economic data, the reports of some of the nation’s biggest retailers, including Home Depot, Target and Walmart, could provide insight into the health of the American consumer.

On Thursday, the Labor Department will release September hiring and unemployment numbers, marking the beginning of the end of a data drought caused by the 43-day federal government shutdown. The statistical blackout meant that the Federal Reserve, businesses, policymakers and investors have largely been in the dark about inflation, job creation, GDP growth and other measures of the U.S. economic health since late summer.

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Trump’s GOP insists no affordability crisis after election losses

Almost two weeks after Republicans lost badly in elections in Georgia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia, many GOP leaders insist there is no problem with the party’s policies, its message or President Donald Trump’s leadership.

Trump says Democrats and the media are misleading voters who are concerned about high costs and the economy. Republican officials aiming to avoid another defeat in next fall’s midterms are encouraging candidates to embrace the president fully and talk more about his accomplishments.

Those are the major takeaways from a series of private conversations, briefings and official talking points involving major Republican decision-makers across Washington, including inside the White House, after their party’s losses Nov. 4.

Trump insists the economy under his watch has never been stronger, even as an increasing number of voters report a different reality in their lives.

▶ Read more about how much the fate of the GOP is tied to Trump

Economic worries were the dominant concern for voters, according to the AP Voter Poll

Republican strategist Doug Heye said Trump’s approach is not necessarily helpful for the Republican Party or its candidates, who already face a difficult political environment in 2026 when voters will decide the balance of power in Congress. Historically, the party occupying the White House has significant losses in nonpresidential elections.

“Republicans need to relay to voters that they understand what they’re going through and that they’re trying to fix it,” Heye said. “That can be hard to do when the president takes a nonmetaphorical wrecking ball to portions of the White House, which distract so much of Washington and the media.”

The issue that unites the country at a time of polarization

Concerns about daily household costs are universal, according to a new survey from the American Communities Project and Ipsos. But people still feel very differently about the future of the country, depending on where they live.

The survey evaluated moods and priorities across the 15 different community types, such as heavily Hispanic areas, big cities and different kinds of rural communities.

It found that optimism about the future of the U.S. has risen in various rural communities, even though few think Trump’s promised economic revival has arrived. Meanwhile, pessimism about the country’s future is up from last year in big cities.

Trump’s split with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene

Trump’s statement followed a fierce fight within the GOP over the files, including an increasingly nasty split with Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who had long been one of his fiercest supporters.

Trump publicly called it quits with Greene last week, said he would endorse a challenger against her in 2026 and posted Sunday, “The fact is, nobody cares about this Traitor to our Country!”

Greene said the country deserves transparency: “I have no idea what’s in the files. I can’t even guess. But that is the questions everyone is asking, is, why fight this so hard?” Greene said.

Epstein case transparency is not just about Trump

Trump’s association with Epstein is well-established and the president’s name was included in records his own Justice Department released in February in an effort to satisfy public interest in the sex-trafficking investigation. But Trump has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein and the mere inclusion of someone’s name in files from the investigation does not imply otherwise.

Epstein, who killed himself in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial, had many prominent acquaintances in political and celebrity circles besides Trump.

“I don’t even know how involved Trump was,” Khanna said. “There are a lot of other people involved who have to be held accountable.”

Khanna asked Trump to meet with those who were abused. Some will be at the Capitol on Tuesday for a news conference, he said.

GOP House speaker seems to expect a decisive House vote to release the files

“We’ll just get this done and move it on. There’s nothing to hide,” Mike Johnson now says.

The discharge petition introduced by Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie and California Democrat Ro Khanna in July is a rarely successful tool that allows a majority of members to bypass House leadership and force a floor vote.

Massie said he’s aiming now for a veto proof majority with 100 or more Republican votes in favor. Khanna voiced more modest expectations for GOP support.

What would the Epstein files bill do?

The bill would force the Justice Department to release all files and communications related to Epstein, as well as any information about the investigation into his death in federal prison. Information about Epstein’s victims or ongoing federal investigations would be allowed to be redacted.

Lawmakers who support the bill have been predicting a big win in the House this week with a “deluge of Republicans” voting for it, bucking the GOP leadership and the president.

Attorney General will investigate Epstein’s ties to Clinton and other political foes

Acceding to Trump’s demands, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday that she has ordered a top federal prosecutor to investigate Epstein’s ties to the president’s political foes, including former President Bill Clinton.

Last week, congressional Republicans released nearly 23,000 pages of documents from Epstein’s estate and House Democrats seized on emails mentioning Trump. None of the men Trump mentioned in a social media post demanding the probe has been accused of sexual misconduct by any of Epstein’s victims.

Georgia election case against Trump and others lives on

A longtime prosecutor, Pete Skandalakis, announced he will take over the Georgia election interference case against Trump and others, after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was removed from the case.

Willis was disqualified over an “appearance of impropriety” created by a romantic relationship with the special prosecutor she’d chosen to lead the case.

Commercial airlines to resume regular schedules

The Federal Aviation Administration on Monday lifted all restrictions on commercial flights that were imposed at 40 major airports during the country’s longest government shutdown.

The FAA’s unprecedented order to limit traffic in the skies due to safety concerns initially went into effect on Nov. 7.