EPSTEIN FILES: Jeffrey Epstein's estate on Monday turned over a tranche of documents subpoenaed by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, including at least one purporting to show a close relationship between the convicted sex offender and Trump before he entered politics.
Democrats on the Oversight panel swiftly released the image and message Trump allegedly wrote as a birthday present to Epstein in 2003, revealing a drawing the White House has denied existed. The Wall Street Journal reported in July that Trump had written the salacious letter to Epstein as a 50th birthday gift. Trump denied writing the letter and later sued the publication. (See the letter here.)
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) accused Trump of engaging in a cover-up.
"This note, Donald Trump has said does not exist," Garcia said in a video message shortly after releasing the image. "Well, once again, he is lying to the American public and is leading a White House cover-up."
Lawmakers also expect to receive some of the other documents for which the committee's chair, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), subpoenaed the estate. Later this week, a bipartisan group of lawyers on the committee is expected to visit the estate offices in New York City to view unredacted documents, including the unredacted version of the birthday book and other files like flight and phone logs.
BACKTRACK: Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) sought to clarify Monday his comments that spread widely last week about Trump being an "FBI informant" against Epstein, suggesting he misspoke about the president's efforts to assist law enforcement as it investigated the wealthy financier.
"I don't know if I used the right word," Johnson told reporters Monday. "I said, 'FBI informant' but I'm not sure. I wasn't there — this isn't my lane."
Johnson told CNN's Manu Raju on Friday that Trump "was an FBI informant to try to take this stuff down," referring to the president's documented past friendship with Epstein and their eventual falling-out nearly two decades ago.
The term "informant" is an official designation given to sources who provide confidential information to the FBI.
SHUTDOWN CLOCK: Republican lawmakers are urging Trump to avoid a government shutdown by taking a reasonable approach and backing a clean short-term funding resolution, even though there might be an array of controversial MAGA priorities Trump may attach to a funding package. The House will move first on a stopgap measure, and Johnson has only a few weeks left to unveil his proposal as Congress will be out the week of Sept. 22 in observance of Rosh Hashanah.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said Monday it would make sense for the White House to keep its requests for "anomalies" in the funding deal to a minimum.
"If you want to make it about trying to get an extension so we actually have time to try and run a normal appropriations process and get some of the bills passed under regular order, then I think you want to have it as clean as possible," Thune said of the stopgap Congress needs to pass by Sept. 30 to avoid a shutdown.
Lawmakers are already laying the groundwork for who to blame in the event of a government shutdown, with members increasingly trading insults and pointing fingers.
▪ The Hill: Senate Republicans on Monday got the ball rolling on their bid to invoke the so-called "nuclear option" and change the chamber's rules to expeditiously confirm dozens of Trump's stalled nominees.
▪ The Hill: The Senate is expected to ramp up efforts this month to pass a bill delineating oversight of the crypto market — the crown jewel of digital asset legislation. But the path ahead is unlikely to be smooth sailing.
▪ The Hill: Internal GOP pressure is mounting on Johnson to extend expiring Obamacare tax credits.
FOREIGN AID: The administration on Monday asked the Supreme Court for an emergency order to keep frozen some foreign aid that Congress already approved. The White House has said it wants to withhold $4 billion in foreign aid but will spend another $6.5 billion that Congress appropriated.
The ask lands before a court that has increasingly issued emergency rulings favoring Trump with scant explanation, writes The Hill's Zach Schonfeld.
The move is sparking increasing debate among lower judges — and even the justices themselves. Several of the justices have long defended emergency decisions as necessary to avoid a "lock-in" effect in a case's early stages. But the Trump administration's staggering flood of emergency appeals — 24 and counting — has put the practice in the limelight.
▪ The Hill: The Supreme Court on Monday allowed Trump to fire a member of the Federal Trade Commission despite a federal law that is intended to restrict the White House's power to control the agency.
▪ The Hill: On Monday, an appeals court upheld writer E. Jean Carroll's $83 million defamation judgment against Trump. Trump is preparing to escalate the case to the Supreme Court.
▪ The Hill: A federal appeals court panel on Monday ruled against Democratic attorneys general who sued the Trump administration over its mass firings of probationary employees.
'PUNCH YOU IN THE F---ING FACE': Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent threatened to punch Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte during a heated confrontation at a private dinner attended by administration officials and close Trump advisers, Politico reported.
The New York Times reports that half a dozen Cabinet members were in attendance at the kickoff for the MAGA-friendly Executive Branch club in D.C.
Bessent reportedly confronted Pulte after hearing from several people that Pulte had been badmouthing him to Trump.
It's not the first time Bessent has confronted a colleague. First-term presidential adviser Steve Bannon said the Treasury secretary and Elon Musk had a verbal confrontation that turned into a scuffle earlier this year.
Musk shared the Politico story on social media Monday, writing: "Hmm."
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