On Thursday night, a key House committee debated dueling measures regarding the release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein, while the Senate narrowly approved President Donald Trump's modest spending cuts package. Separately, President Trump denied writing a letter to Epstein that reportedly included an outline of a naked woman, and ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek the release of "pertinent" records from the Epstein grand jury, as reported by NBC News. The House Rules Committee Republicans advanced a resolution directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to make public "all credible" Epstein files, though it includes exceptions for information identifying victims or violating criminal procedure, according to Emily Brooks News. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise stated he was unsure when a floor vote on the Epstein resolution would occur. Meanwhile, House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi initially called the Epstein files uproar a "distraction" before backtracking an hour later to say, "Release the files," as reported by the New York Post. In the Senate, President Trump's spending cuts package passed despite some Republican defections, according to Fox News. The House of Representatives also engineered a procedural gambit to approve $9 billion in cuts to public broadcasting and USAID, with a vote on the rule expected to automatically "deem" the bill passed, as reported by Chad Pergram. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries spoke against these rescission cuts, as noted by PollTracker2024. Separately, the U.S. Army Special Operations Command issued a warning to retired personnel in Florida who served in Iraq or Syria regarding a possible credible terrorist threat, according to FaytuksNetwork. Border Patrol agents in Sacramento arrested several individuals, including a Mexican aggravated felon with a prior fentanyl trafficking conviction and a previously deported Guatemalan aggravated felon, as reported by Bill Melugin. The White House has accused Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell of bungling a renovation of the Fed's headquarters and suggested it could be grounds for his termination, according to ABC News. Additionally, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has fostered closer ties with President Trump, dining with him and stating he has left the Democratic Party, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. The U.S. also announced it will impose heavy tariffs on buyers of Russian exports, and is "moving with haste" to arm Ukraine under a Trump plan, potentially including the sale of Patriot air defense systems, as stated by U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker and reported by The Kyiv Independent.
