REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-Ky.) filed a discharge petition Tuesday seeking to force the release of all government files pertaining to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, setting up a new confrontation with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).

Massie has teamed up with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) on the effort to override House leadership and bring an Epstein transparency bill to the floor for a vote.

• The bill would require the Department of Justice (DOJ) to post all of its Epstein documents online in searchable formats.
  
• Massie and Khanna say they have the votes. The discharge petition will need six Republicans to pass if all Democrats vote in favor.

Johnson on Tuesday added a vote to the docket for later this week to direct the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to “continue its ongoing investigation,” as he seeks to avoid the discharge petition.

Massie called Johnson’s move a “meaningless vote to provide political cover for those members who don’t support our bipartisan legislation to force the release of the Epstein files.”

Massie and Khanna will hold a press conference Wednesday morning with 10 Epstein victims. GOP leaders, including Johnson, met privately with the survivors Tuesday.

“It’s for us to hear from them, to express our deep sympathy for what they’ve been made to endure and ensure that we have been and always will be for maximum transparency, for justice to be brought for all those engaged in these evils and to ensure that happens as quickly as possible,” Johnson said Tuesday.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) left Tuesday’s meeting with survivors early and was visibly upset, according to NewsNation’s Kristen Eskow.

Mace posted that she experienced a “full blow panic attack” and said she felt “the immense pain of how hard all victims are fighting for themselves because we know absolutely no one will fight for us.”

Massie’s efforts once again put him at odds with President Trump and Johnson.

Trump has said there is nothing left to learn about Epstein, and he’s fumed over what he views as a conspiratorial fixation on the matter. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in July that there is no Epstein “client list,” effectively ending the DOJ’s investigation into Epstein’s network.

The Oversight Committee is currently investigating the matter, issuing subpoenas to former administration officials in both parties, including former President Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Over the weekend, the panel withdrew a subpoena for former FBI Director Robert Mueller, the one-time special counsel who led the investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia.

Mueller’s family said he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in the summer of 2021, about two years after he testified before Congress about his Trump-Russia findings.

The government will run out of money at the end of the month unless Congress passes a new funding bill.

Trump’s plan to claw back an additional $5 billion in foreign aid funds has complicated the politics around the shutdown, with Democrats saying they can’t trust Republicans on funding matters if the White House will turn around and rescind the money.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) warned in a letter Tuesday that the chances of a shutdown are growing, arguing that “Republicans are once again threatening to go-at-it-alone” by not negotiating with Democrats on a stopgap spending measure.

Schumer singled-out Trump’s “pocket rescissions” to accuse Republicans of forcing the shutdown standoff.

“It is clear that Republicans are prioritizing chaos over governing, partisanship over partnership, and their own power over the American people,” Schumer said.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) also blasted the rescissions, calling them “unlawful.”

“Congress alone bears the constitutional responsibility for funding our government, and any effort to claw back resources outside of the appropriations process undermines that responsibility,” Murkowski posted on X.

Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) requested a “four corners” negotiation with Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), although the GOP leaders have not agreed to a meeting yet.

The Hill’s Emily Brooks writes:

“House GOP leaders are staring down a politically fraught and legislatively jam-packed September as lawmakers return to Washington — all while their tiny majority is set to get even slimmer. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) must contend with a Sept. 30 government funding deadline amid disputes among Republicans on the structure and length of a stopgap and as Democrats have the power to force a shutdown.”

There will be two House special elections this month to fill open seats due to the deaths of former Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) and Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.).

Both seats are almost certain to be filled by Democrats, decreasing Johnson’s margin for error. If everyone is present and voting, Johnson will only be able to afford two defections for party-line votes.

💡Perspectives:

• Semafor: How Trump, social media broke the bureaucracy.

• USA Today: Democrats can’t beat Trump on common sense.

• USA Today: Voters want populist grit on economic issues.

Read more: 

• Trump-triggered controversies set table for GOP’s return to Congress.

• McConnell readies for battle to boost defense spending.

• Senate GOP readies for high-stakes battles.

• Trump, GOP face tough choices for second tax bill.

• President Trump announced that the Space Command headquarters are moving to Alabama, reversing former President Biden’s decision to keep the command in Colorado.

   

• Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) announced Tuesday she would not seek reelection in next year’s midterm elections.

©  AP Photo/Jon Cherry

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ruled Tuesday that President Trump broke the law when he ordered National Guard troops to Los Angeles in June to deal with violent protests.

Breyer, an appointee of former President Clinton, said Trump’s move violated a law from 1878 that bars federal troops from participating in law enforcement.

“This was intentional—Defendants instigated a months-long deployment of the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles for the purpose of establishing a military presence there and enforcing federal law,” Breyer wrote. “Such conduct is a serious violation of the Posse Comitatus Act.”

The administration is expected to appeal, although most of the troops are no longer deployed in Los Angeles. An appeals court blocked a previous order from Breyer that found Trump broke the law by deploying the National Guard and ordering him to hand back control to California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D).

This comes as Trump’s emergency order to crack down on crime in Washington, D.C., is set to expire later this month.

On Monday, Trump declared the nation’s capital a “crime free zone,” while pushing for other Democratic-run cities to work with his administration to address crime.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump praised D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D), saying she “has become very popular because she worked with me and my great people in bringing CRIME down to virtually NOTHING in D.C.”

Bowser, who met with Trump last week, has said that violent crime and carjackings have plunged since the federalization of the Metropolitan Police Department and the deployment of National Guard troops.

The Trump administration is eyeing other major cities as it considers expanding its deployment of National Guard troops.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said over the weekend that her department plans to “add more resources” to its operations in Chicago.

Trump warned Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) that he’d intervene if crime in Chicago persists at current levels. Fifty-eight people were shot in Chicago over Labor Day weekend, with eight of them dying.

“Pritzker is losing ten people a week, every weekend he’s losing 10 people with 30, 40 or 50 people shot, it’s unbelieveable,” Trump said Tuesday on “The Scott Jennings Radio Show.”

“We have cities where we have many murders every week because we have week liberal laws where they’ve allowed this to happen,” he added. “So we’re stopping it. Chicago’s a mess and we have a governor who doesn’t have a clue…and the mayor is worse than him.”

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) signed an executive order recently detailing how the he’d respond to the deployment of troops.

“The City of Chicago will do everything in our power to defend our democracy and protect our communities,” Johnson said in a statement. “With this executive order, we send a resounding message to the federal government: we do not need nor want an unconstitutional and illegal military occupation of our city.”

💡Perspectives:

• The Liberal Patriot: America’s decaying political culture.

• BIG: The Silicon Valley plan to subvert elections.

• New York Times: Kennedy endangers every American’s health.

Read more: 

• DOJ challenges Illinois for in-state tuition to undocumented students.

• DC grand jury declines to indict woman accused of threatening Trump.

• Mortgage fraud claims become ammunition against Trump’s foes.

©  Associated Press

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the Trump administration has a backup plan to impose tariffs if the Supreme Court rules against President Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

“I’m confident the Supreme Court will … uphold the president’s authority to use IEEPA,” Bessent told Reuters. “And there are lots of other authorities that can be used — not as efficient, not as powerful.”

The Treasury secretary said Section 338 of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 would authorize the president to impose tariffs of up to 50 percent for five months against imports from other countries.

This comes after a federal appeals court rejected Trump’s assertion of emergency powers to justify his tariffs.

“IEEPA’s grant of presidential authority to ‘regulate’ imports does not authorize the tariffs imposed by the Executive Orders,” the majority wrote.

Tariffs are still in effect, as the appeals court withheld its mandate until Oct. 14 to give time for the administration to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Bessent told Semafor he plans to write a brief for the Supreme Court challenge to Trump’s tariffs authority.

“If that decision were to be lost, it would be an economic disaster for the United States,” Trump said Tuesday on “The Scott Jennings Radio Show. “

In a separate interview with the Washington Examiner, Bessent said the Trump administration is considering declaring a national housing crisis as the real estate market struggles to reach stable ground.

That would potentially be Trump’s ninth national emergency of his second term.

MEANWHILE…

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing on Tuesday.

Putin described Xi as a “dear friend” and said ties between the two countries are “at an unprecedentedly high level.”

Putin also met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Xi on Monday, as Trump stands by his steep tariffs on India meant to discourage the purchase of oil from Moscow.

Trump told Scott Jennings that he’s “not concerned at all” about an axis forming of hostile foreign powers against the U.S.

“They would never use their military on us, believe me, that would be the worst thing they could ever do,” Trump said.

Russia expanded its attacks on Ukraine over the weekend, as global leaders urged Trump to stick to his promise of a crackdown on Moscow for refusing to end the war.

Trump had imposed a Monday deadline on Putin to agree to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, but no meeting is currently planned.

💡Perspectives:

• New Republic: America’s Gaza policy is a bipartisan catastrophe.

• Wall Street Journal: Can Americans stop fighting each other long enough to appreciate the threat from China?

• The Hill: Trump takes a huge loss on tariffs.

Read more: 

• Pessimism about economy at record highs in new survey.

• Venezuela at ‘maximum preparedness’ with US warships in Caribbean.

• Trump family amasses $5 billion fortune after crypto launch.

• Charter school enrollment increases as district numbers fall.

• Parents losing trust in AI as schools ramp up usage.

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