Notes

The Epstein gamble. On Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi briefed President Donald Trump in May that his name appears in files the Department of Justice possesses related to the disgraced financier, convicted sex offender, and now late Jeffrey Epstein. This was weeks before the DoJ decided against releasing the files, despite Trump’s campaign promises of transparency, specifically about the Epstein case.

Trump has since filed a US$20 billion lawsuit against the Journal over reporting about an alleged birthday letter to Epstein, while dismissing the entire controversy as a “hoax” and lashing out at his own supporters who demand follow-through on his transparency promise. It’s all created an unusual fracture within Trump’s movement and coalition, with prominent movement figures and Republican lawmakers joining Democrats in calling for the release of the documents.

The administration’s compromise—requesting the release of limited grand jury testimony—is satisfying neither critics nor supporters. The question right at the moment isn’t so much what’s in the files—we’ll see—but whether Trump’s aggressively defensive posture is politically viable, given Trump’s previous political exploitation of suspicions among his base about Epstein’s powerful connections and the circumstances of his death.

What do we know?