US swings from govt shutdown to opening Epstein files

The TOI correspondent from Washington: In a head-spinning pivot from fiscal brinkmanship to scandalous revelations, the United States emerged from its longest government shutdown in history on Thursday only for Congress to unleash a fresh torrent of Jeffrey Epstein documents that ensnare President Donald Trump in a web of unflattering emails.The 43-day impasse, which furloughed 700,000 federal workers and shaved an estimated 0.1% off GDP weekly, concluded with a bipartisan sigh of relief, before a fresh tranche of the so-called Epstein files set the stage for potentially explosive hearings in the coming days on the late sex offender's ties with political elites, including President Trump.The shutdown's end came swiftly after weeks of partisan trench warfare after some half dozen Democratic legislators joined the narrow Republican majority in the House to offset the dissent of two GOP legislators for a 222-209 vote to end the shutdown.President Trump, who signed the legislation in the Oval Office late Wednesday night to re-open the government after the vote, ignored questions about the latest Epstein email disclosures by Democrats which had flooded social media by then, although he is typically happy to engage with the press at all times, often seeking out the media at all hours. Among the bombshells in the latest tranche is a 2011 email from the late sex predator to

Ghislaine Maxwell

, his convicted accomplice, calling Trump "the dog that hasn't barked," and adding he "spent hours at my house" with a sex trafficking victim whose name was redacted but which is in public domain.

The White House dismissed the disclosures as a "fake narrative" engineered by Democrats, with Trump tweeting: "Epstein hoax—total distraction from our wins!" Republicans countered the Democratic revelations with their own release of 20,000+ pages, highlighting Epstein's gripes about Trump's presidency and business dealings to suggest the late sex offender had an axe to grind. The clashing narrative came on the heels of a newly-elected Democratic legislator, Adelita Grijalva, whose swearing in, will add the one vote to the 218 required to force the House vote to release the full Epstein trove—estimated at 50,000 pages.

The full stash is reported to be in the possession of the FBI and Justice Department. Material Democrats released on Wednesday were obtained from the Epstein estate in response to a subpoena from a congressional committee.Several Republican lawmakers are also said to support the release of the complete Epstein files in a revolt mirroring Democrats rebelling against their party on the issue of government shutdown. At least two pro-releasers, Lauren Bobbert and Nancy Mace, were reportedly summoned to the White House to convince them not to support the release. They are said to have resisted the pressure amid polls showing only 40% of Republicans approving Trump's handling of the Epstein affairs and a majority sentiment for full disclosure.Few people are holding their breath about anything in the files damaging President Trump’s teflon-coated image given all that sludge he has navigated. “People who think this new Epstein stuff is going to finally turn Trump’s cult against him… They are more likely to come around to the view: “You know, actually child rape is not so bad,” one Trump critic noted darkly on X.