The Latest: Trump now says House Republicans should vote to release Epstein files

President Donald Trump said House Republicans should vote to release the files in the Jeffrey Epstein case, a startling reversal after previously fighting the proposal as a growing number of those in his own party supported it.

“We have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party,” Trump wrote on social media late Sunday after landing at Joint Base Andrews following a weekend in Florida.

Trump’s statement followed a fierce fight within the GOP over the files and is a rare example of Trump backtracking because of opposition within his own party. The president’s shift is an implicit acknowledgement that supporters of the measure have enough votes to pass it in the House, although it has an unclear future in the Senate.

The Latest:

New analysis shows more US consumers are falling behind on their utility bills

Past due utility balances jumped 9.7% annually to $789 between the April-June periods of 2024 and 2025, said The Century Foundation, a liberal think tank. That overlaps with a 12% jump in monthly energy bills during the same period. It’s a warning sign for the U.S. economy and another political headache for Trump.

Consumers usually prioritize keeping their lights on and heating their homes along with their mortgages and auto debt, said Julie Margetta Morgan, the foundation’s president. The increase in both energy costs and delinquencies could mean they’re falling behind on other bills, too.

Troubles paying electricity and natural gas bills reflect an economic quandary as Trump promotes the artificial intelligence industry as a key part of the economic boom he’s promised. AI data centers massively use electricity, threatening higher bills for everyday Americans.

Trading on Wall Street is mixed ahead of first US government employment data in more than six weeks

Nvidia’s profit report Wednesday could suggest whether AI company stocks are overvalued. And in the absence of government produced economic data, the reports of some of the nation’s biggest retailers, including Home Depot, Target and Walmart, could provide insight into the health of the American consumer.

On Thursday, the Labor Department will release September hiring and unemployment numbers, marking the beginning of the end of a data drought caused by the 43-day federal government shutdown. The statistical blackout meant that the Federal Reserve, businesses, policymakers and investors have largely been in the dark about inflation, job creation, GDP growth and other measures of the U.S. economic health since late summer.

▶ Read more about today’s financial markets action

Trump’s GOP insists no affordability crisis after election losses

Almost two weeks after Republicans lost badly in elections in Georgia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia, many GOP leaders insist there is no problem with the party’s policies, its message or President Donald Trump’s leadership.

Trump says Democrats and the media are misleading voters who are concerned about high costs and the economy. Republican officials aiming to avoid another defeat in next fall’s midterms are encouraging candidates to embrace the president fully and talk more about his accomplishments.

Those are the major takeaways from a series of private conversations, briefings and official talking points involving major Republican decision-makers across Washington, including inside the White House, after their party’s losses Nov. 4.

Trump insists the economy under his watch has never been stronger, even as an increasing number of voters report a different reality in their lives.

▶ Read more about how much the fate of the GOP is tied to Trump

Economic worries were the dominant concern for voters, according to the AP Voter Poll

Republican strategist Doug Heye said Trump’s approach is not necessarily helpful for the Republican Party or its candidates, who already face a difficult political environment in 2026 when voters will decide the balance of power in Congress. Historically, the party occupying the White House has significant losses in nonpresidential elections.

“Republicans need to relay to voters that they understand what they’re going through and that they’re trying to fix it,” Heye said. “That can be hard to do when the president takes a nonmetaphorical wrecking ball to portions of the White House, which distract so much of Washington and the media.”

The issue that unites the country at a time of polarization

Concerns about daily household costs are universal, according to a new survey from the American Communities Project and Ipsos. But people still feel very differently about the future of the country, depending on where they live.

The survey evaluated moods and priorities across the 15 different community types, such as heavily Hispanic areas, big cities and different kinds of rural communities.

It found that optimism about the future of the U.S. has risen in various rural communities, even though few think Trump’s promised economic revival has arrived. Meanwhile, pessimism about the country’s future is up from last year in big cities.

Trump’s split with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene

Trump’s statement followed a fierce fight within the GOP over the files, including an increasingly nasty split with Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who had long been one of his fiercest supporters.

Trump publicly called it quits with Greene last week, said he would endorse a challenger against her in 2026 and posted Sunday, “The fact is, nobody cares about this Traitor to our Country!”

Greene said the country deserves transparency: “I have no idea what’s in the files. I can’t even guess. But that is the questions everyone is asking, is, why fight this so hard?” Greene said.

Epstein case transparency is not just about Trump

Trump’s association with Epstein is well-established and the president’s name was included in records his own Justice Department released in February in an effort to satisfy public interest in the sex-trafficking investigation. But Trump has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein and the mere inclusion of someone’s name in files from the investigation does not imply otherwise.

Epstein, who killed himself in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial, had many prominent acquaintances in political and celebrity circles besides Trump.

“I don’t even know how involved Trump was,” Khanna said. “There are a lot of other people involved who have to be held accountable.”

Khanna asked Trump to meet with those who were abused. Some will be at the Capitol on Tuesday for a news conference, he said.

GOP House speaker seems to expect a decisive House vote to release the files

“We’ll just get this done and move it on. There’s nothing to hide,” Mike Johnson now says.

The discharge petition introduced by Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie and California Democrat Ro Khanna in July is a rarely successful tool that allows a majority of members to bypass House leadership and force a floor vote.

Massie said he’s aiming now for a veto proof majority with 100 or more Republican votes in favor. Khanna voiced more modest expectations for GOP support.

What would the Epstein files bill do?

The bill would force the Justice Department to release all files and communications related to Epstein, as well as any information about the investigation into his death in federal prison. Information about Epstein’s victims or ongoing federal investigations would be allowed to be redacted.

Lawmakers who support the bill have been predicting a big win in the House this week with a “deluge of Republicans” voting for it, bucking the GOP leadership and the president.

Attorney General will investigate Epstein’s ties to Clinton and other political foes

Acceding to Trump’s demands, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday that she has ordered a top federal prosecutor to investigate Epstein’s ties to the president’s political foes, including former President Bill Clinton.

Last week, congressional Republicans released nearly 23,000 pages of documents from Epstein’s estate and House Democrats seized on emails mentioning Trump. None of the men Trump mentioned in a social media post demanding the probe has been accused of sexual misconduct by any of Epstein’s victims.

Georgia election case against Trump and others lives on

A longtime prosecutor, Pete Skandalakis, announced he will take over the Georgia election interference case against Trump and others, after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was removed from the case.

Willis was disqualified over an “appearance of impropriety” created by a romantic relationship with the special prosecutor she’d chosen to lead the case.

Commercial airlines to resume regular schedules

The Federal Aviation Administration on Monday lifted all restrictions on commercial flights that were imposed at 40 major airports during the country’s longest government shutdown.

The FAA’s unprecedented order to limit traffic in the skies due to safety concerns initially went into effect on Nov. 7.