How Vulnerable Is MAGA to Infighting?

The only real question in this new Epstein saga: Does it damage Donald Trump? On Tuesday, the president batted away a question about a recent Justice Department memo that concluded there was “no incriminating ‘client list,’” no evidence that Jeffrey Epstein “blackmailed prominent individuals” and nothing that could be used to launch any further investigations. During a cabinet meeting, Trump let Attorney General Pam Bondi once again try to appease a roiling, MAGA-supporting online world that won’t take “case closed” for an answer.

These “Mr. President, you are being misled” posts from top MAGA names are very enticing to outsiders, especially Democrats. On Monday, they not-so-subtly hinted that MAGA skeptics should keep pushing the Trump administration on Epstein stuff.

“I handed the Trump administration a ready-made Epstein file involving a billionaire financier and Wall Street banks, and they have done nothing with it,” Sen. Ron Wyden told NOTUS’ Violet Jira. “Second, I know for a fact that the Trump administration is sitting on an Epstein file that contains new actionable information, and they’ve done nothing with that either.”

Democrats see an opportunity here to foment the kind of fractured base infighting they always have to deal with when one of their own is president.

We’ve been through a lot of this MAGA infighting. Just before the Iran strikes was the last time.

Is this one different? “It’s difficult to assess the relative size of any of these flare-ups,” Media Matters’ Matt Gertz told us Tuesday after he published a detailed analysis of the fight within MAGA over this. “So far, the Epstein response is following the typical paradigm, in which right-wing critics call for different officials to be pushed out but without suggesting that they are at a breaking point with Trump himself.”

That paradigm helps explain how the White House is thinking about this. One source close to the president told Jasmine he’s “aware” of backlash from the base, but insisted Trump had nothing to do with the creation of “Bondi’s binders” or the DOJ’s “case closed” memo.

The outrage on social media is real, the anger is real. But that doesn’t mean it’s directed where Democrats want it to go. “Oh, there’s blowback, no question,” one MAGA strategist told NOTUS. “But the reason I think it ends with Bondi as the sacrificial lamb is because it wasn’t Trump that went on TV and said that he had the Epstein files on his desk. It was her.”

The administration’s view: “President Trump is proud of Attorney General Bondi’s efforts to execute his ‘Make America Safe Again’ agenda,” Karoline Leavitt told Violet. “The continued fixation on sowing division in President Trump’s cabinet is baseless and unfounded in reality.”

Open Tabs: Travelers may no longer be required to remove shoes before boarding a plane (AP); Flood predictions could worsen when Trump’s cuts take hold (Politico); I.R.S. Says Churches Can Endorse Candidates From the Pulpit (NYT); White House Weighs Giving Ukraine Another Patriot Air-Defense System (WSJ)

FROM THE HILL:

Reconciliation, again? And… again?! Speaker Mike Johnson wants two more reconciliation bills this year. And Sen. Ron Johnson said he has a commitment from leadership for another reconciliation bill to address spending, which he exchanged for his vote on the last one.

After slogging through the “one big, beautiful bill,” this is not an idea with a ton of traction with lawmakers at the moment.

“I wouldn’t say anything’s too ambitious,” Sen. Shelley Moore Capito told NOTUS’ Hill team. “But that is ambitious.”

THE BIG ONE

Will Texas change the White House’s approach to disaster relief? The Trump administration has been slower to review disaster aid requests than previous administrations, and the president at times has openly said aid money can be used as a political tool.

Texas is not a political enemy, obviously, and NOTUS’ Anna Kramer reports that the administration expedited relief aid requested by the state after the floods. Requests for funds from 12 other states, including requests from Michigan, Oregon and Indiana that date back to May, remain pending.

Texas is getting treated like everyone else in one key way, though: The state’s request for hazard mitigation has not been approved (officials say its “pending”). These funds are used to help states rebuild in ways to reduce the consequences of future disasters, and Trump has been stingy with them.

The federal government has rejected hazard mitigation aid for storm recovery across the country, including in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Missouri and Oklahoma. Does this trend end with Texas?

The White House referred questions to FEMA. FEMA did not respond to a request for comment.

NEW ON NOTUS

F-E-see ya: The Federal Election Commission is in its third month of a de facto shutdown due to a lack of, well, commissioners. To fill the vacant seats, Republicans have recommended election law attorneys Ashley Stow and Andrew Woodson, according to sources familiar with deliberations, and Democrats have put up Jonathan Peterson from the Elias Law Group. “There are no personnel announcements at this time,” a White House spokesperson said.

Hold ’em, fold ’em (and properly itemize ’em): Professional poker players are not happy with the hand they were dealt in the new tax law. They used to be able to offset 100% of their gambling losses for taxation purposes; now that number is 90%. The American Gaming Association wants a new law changing things back and has bipartisan support from Democratic Rep. Dina Titus and Republican Reps. Troy Nehls, Jeff Van Drew and Mark Amodei. All three of those Republicans voted for the bill. Nehls blamed the Senate for adding the provision.

I declare… political party! Elon Musk has a lot more money than the last rich guy who wanted to start a new party (take your pick), but money can’t solve all his problems. That thing about the FEC above — as it’s effectively shut down, it can’t issue the necessary advisory opinion to approve a new party and allow it access to large contributions. And that’s not the only challenge the America Party faces, NOTUS’ Claire Heddles reports.

More: Supreme Court Clears the Way for Trump’s Purge of Federal Workers; Trump Says He’s ‘Testing’ How to Take Over D.C.; Glenn Youngkin Reveals His Family Was Rescued From Deadly Texas Flooding

NOT US

• Education Department dismisses thousands of civil rights complaints at an ‘unheard of’ pace, by Bianca Quilantan, Rebecca Carballo and Juan Perez Jr. for Politico
• A Marco Rubio impostor is using AI voice to call high-level officials, by John Hudson and Hannah Natanson for The Washington Post
• How Insularity Defined the Last Stages of Biden’s Career, by Tyler Pager for The New York Times
• Camp Mystic was required to have evacuation plans. Did staff have time to use them? By Eric Dexheimer for the San Antonio Express-News

NOTUS LIVE EVENT⚠️

Due to changes in the congressional calendar, we have postponed “Mapping the New Global Order.” Once we have details about the rescheduled date, we will share an update. We look forward to seeing you soon.

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