Overview

• Senate Republican leaders blocked a Democratic-backed bill to unseal grand jury transcripts linked to Jeffrey Epstein.
• The administration has labeled the affair a “hoax” to discredit calls for releasing the files and recessed Congress to block a vote.
• Officials sent the deputy attorney general to meet Ghislaine Maxwell in Florida before her transfer to a minimum-security prison in Texas.
• President Trump is reportedly considering a pardon for Maxwell as concerns grow that the sealed records could implicate powerful figures.
• Democrats have ramped up the “Trump protects elites” message to leverage the stalled release fight in their election-year strategy.