Today’s notice: It’s been a long week for people trying to turn the Epstein page, and it’s only Wednesday. An interview with Jeanine Pirro. An interview with Mahmoud Khalil. Lobbyists are catching big bucks. And Gavin Newsom is catching strays.
THE BIG ONE
The neverending story: A little montage of Tuesday in the ongoing Jeffrey Epstein saga:
1. “I hope not,” a source with knowledge of Donald Trump’s pardon process told the NOTUS White House team when asked if it was possible Ghislaine Maxwell gets clemency in return for testimony, as was the hot social media topic of the morning. (“I wouldn’t be surprised. Nothing surprises me anymore,” a second source from pardon-land said.)
2. “There is something to be said for 40 or 60 members of Congress getting five minutes each,” Rep. Thomas Massie told NOTUS’ Hill team when asked about the possibility of Maxwell testifying before Congress. He seemed to be enjoying himself thoroughly as he helped force another House embarrassment for Trump on this issue.
3. “I am proud to join as a co-sponsor of H.Res.581, the Epstein Files Transparency Act,” Rep. Nancy Pelosi also told NOTUS’ Hill team, signaling how serious Democrats are about this.
4. “It reminds me a little bit of ‘Brat Summer’ a year ago today,” a Democratic strategist told us when we asked if Democrats should be as excited about this as they are.
Whee! Let’s start with those Democrats. NOTUS’ Alex Roarty and I talked to a bunch of strategists about the party’s embrace of Epstein and what they say it’s learned about messaging. “After ’24, I think there is a willingness to experiment and be more open minded, more unplugged,” Andrew Bates, a deputy press secretary for the Biden White House, told Alex.
The party has been surprisingly all in on this, and on Tuesday a party-aligned poll from Navigator gave justification for it.
But is this really a change moment or just a distracted moment? “How I will evaluate our success boils down to how the next month goes right as members go home and start to tell stories in their home districts,” Danielle Butterfield of Priorities USA told me. “I’m worried that it will become a fight of Epstein versus ‘BBB,’ and which narrative is better.”
Guess who else wants to talk about the reconciliation bill over the next month? “I don’t know anything about it,” Trump told reporters when asked about a Justice Department announcement that Maxwell would be asked to testify. The White House is still trying to turn this page. The latest strategy is to put responsibility for this squarely on Attorney General Pam Bondi’s shoulders.
“He said if she has any more credible evidence, she should release it,” Karoline Leavitt said.
Open Tabs: Meme Stock Fever Is Spreading Like It’s 2021 (Bloomberg); Lawmakers press Musk on Grok’s antisemitic language (Axios); Labor Department proposes more than 60 rule changes to deregulate workplaces (AP); Coke With Cane Sugar Is Coming. But Corn Syrup Isn’t Going Away. (WSJ)
From the White House
Jeanine Pirro talks to NOTUS: The interim U.S. attorney for D.C. gave her side of the increasingly bizarre cryptocurrency scam case filed on behalf of two people who happen to be tied to the Trump family’s crypto business.
NOTUS’ Claire Heddles and Jose Pagliery reported this week on an unusual move to (briefly) seal the case. “The court made a ministerial, clerical error that as soon as we realized it, within hours, the whole docket was unsealed,” Pirro told Claire. “They admitted we never asked for the docket to be sealed.” (The court did not respond to questions from NOTUS.)
As for what the government did want to seal, Pirro said the names on the initial filing (the ones that pointed to the executives at cryptocurrency platform MoonPay, before being redacted under limited seal) were removed because “this is the type of case where victims — including individuals, employees of a company, as well as a victim company — have a right to not have their names included in a complaint.”
Speaking of interim U.S. attorneys, Tuesday was a wild ride in New Jersey, where former Trump attorney Alina Habba lost her gig because her 120-day interim appointment lapsed and a panel of federal judges declined to put her in the job full time. (The Senate has not considered her nomination.)
The White House swiftly tried to flex on the judges in response. Bondi announced the assistant U.S. attorney set to take Habba’s job would be fired.
What comes next remains unclear. The whole thing is likely to continue to play out in another dramatic confrontation between the administration and the federal judiciary.
From the Hill
Mahmoud Khalil visits: “Some of them are brilliant, just not all of them,” the Palestinian rights activist told NOTUS’ Shifra Dayak of meeting with eight Democratic lawmakers Tuesday, the one-month anniversary of his release from ICE detention. Khalil’s visit was focused on advocating for an end to U.S. military aid to Israel.
Khalil and his team met with Sen. Bernie Sanders and Reps. Ayanna Pressley, Summer Lee and Rashida Tlaib, among others. He did not meet with any Republicans.
On continuing to be an activist: “The retaliation is already happening. It’s not like if I remain silent, or if I hid my face, that wouldn’t stop the retaliation,” he told Shifra of the Trump administration.
On his experience in detention: “They’re designed to be black holes that no one would visit, no one would look at these conditions, to keep them just as isolated as possible,” he said of the ICE facility in Louisiana.
NEW ON NOTUS
Swamp: Many millions. Drainers: 0 It’s a day ending in Y, so it’s still a great time to be a lobbyist. NOTUS’ Taylor Giorno read through the latest filings and found that firms close with the White House are doing absolute gangbusters business. One example: Ballard Partners, where White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and Bondi used to work, reported receiving nearly $20.9 million during the second quarter. During the same period in 2024, the firm brought in $4.3 million.
Opera house drama: A provision in the Interior Department’s funding bill, which passed through the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, would name the opera house at the Kennedy Center for Melania Trump. (The facility’s current name, apparently, is Opera House.) At the committee hearing, Rep. Chellie Pingree said Republicans had “snuck in, I think, something slightly divisive,” NOTUS’ Amelia Benavides-Colón reports.
“This is an excellent way to recognize [Melania Trump’s] support and commitment to promoting the arts,” Rep. Mike Simpson said.
Too… Californian to be president? That’s what swing-state Democratic strategists see when they look at Gov. Gavin Newsom, NOTUS’ Shifra Dayak reports. Arizona strategist Adam Kinsey contrasted Newsom with Sen. Ruben Gallego: Gallego “knows how to live off of food stamps. He knows 12 ways to make a good packet of ramen. I think that’s a better sell for Arizona Democrats than this guy who turned his winery into a really established brand, and only needed the Gettys to help him fund it.” 2028 gonna be lit, folks.
More: Senators Clear Their First Government Funding Hurdle. A Shutdown Still May Be Coming; Louisville Drops ‘Sanctuary City’ Policy Over Fear of Retribution From Trump; Obama’s Office Issues Rare Rebuke of Trump’s ‘Outrageous’ Claims of Treason; Trump Claims He’s Getting an Additional $20M in Ad Dollars From ‘60 Minutes’ Settlement
NOT US
- Dems have been bleeding working-class support. Now possible 2028 contenders are fighting with unions. By Lawrence Ukenye for Politico
- White House Leads Push to Block Watchdog’s Inquiries Into Spending Cuts, by Tony Romm for The New York Times
- New York House Dems Cool to Mamdani’s Mayoral Bid, by Owen Tilman for The Dispatch
- The overlooked data Trump economists see predicting a boom ahead, by Neil Irwin for Axios
- Videos Expose ICE Lock-up Inside NYC’s 26 Federal Plaza, by Gwynne Hogan and Haidee Chu for The City
Thank you for reading! If you like this edition of the NOTUS newsletter, please forward it to a friend. If this newsletter was shared with you, please subscribe — it’s free! Have a tip? Email us at tips@notus.org. And as always, we’d love to hear your thoughts on our newsletter at newsletters@notus.org.