It’s the Impunity, Stupid

In reviewing a portion of the 20,000-plus Jeffrey Epstein emails released yesterday, I was left astonished not so much by the chumminess he enjoyed with elites even after he’d served time for soliciting prostitution with a minor but by the messages’ flagrantness, their casual disregard, and their indifference to consequence.

It was perfectly captured by political scientist Ed Burmila: “The crisis of elite impunity that is ruining our society cannot be more clearly or convincingly demonstrated than with the fact that all of these people wrote all this stuff into an email and hit Send.”

Impunity. That’s the word I was looking for.

It is the same impunity that got us Trump. Like Epstein, Trump built a career on a transactional chumminess, mutual self-indulgence, and an alarmingly high tolerance level for misbehavior by the layers of political, business, media, and cultural elites surrounding him.

At it’s most extreme, the misbehavior manifested in both men as abusive sexual misconduct. It’s one of the oddities of this whole spectacle that the question is whether Trump — already an admitted pussy grabber, held liable as a sexual assaulter, and prone to traipsing through his pageant dressing rooms to gawk at young flesh — was also engaged in another kind of sexual misconduct, as if stacking revelations high enough will finally overcome the elite impunity that’s cosseted Trump for more than 40 years.

The Epstein Files

Before sampling some of the latest release, one important point: The Epstein emails released yesterday are not the files the White House is fighting so hard to keep from coming out. The only reasonable conclusion is that they must be even worse for Trump than what we’ve seen so far. And so far has been pretty bad:

• Politico: Jeffrey Epstein, in newly released email, says Trump ‘knew about the girls’
• WaPo: Epstein wrote that Trump knew of sexual abuse but didn’t participate
• NYT: After Trump Split, Epstein Said He Could ‘Take Him Down’
• Politico: Jeffrey Epstein claimed he gave Russians insight into Trump
• NYT: Epstein Bantered Regularly With Larry Summers

Damage Control Gone Wrong

The tranche of emails released yesterday came from the Epstein estate in response to an August subpoena from the GOP-controlled House Oversight Committee, which sought the emails as a way of tamping down right-wing outrage over the Trump DOJ not releasing its Epstein files. So this started as a damage control effort.

Early Wednesday, House Democrats released three choice emails from the tranche. House Republicans accused them of cherry-picking the emails, and, in an apparent attempt to muddy the waters, released the entire tranche of 20,000+ documents. Another effort of damage control gone very wrong.

What Happens in the Situation Room Stays in the Situation Room

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a press secretary give away the game more completely than Karoline Leavitt did in her answer to questions about the White House pressure campaign to block the Epstein discharge petition in the House. It’s like the criminal defense attorney inadvertently revealing the defendant’s presence at the crime scene:

Q: "Why are White House officials…meeting with Rep. Boebert in an effort to try to get her to not sign this petition calling for the release of the [Epstein] files?"Leavitt: "I'm not going to detail conversations that took place in the situation room."

— The Bulwark (@thebulwark.com) 2025-11-12T18:55:03.678Z

What’s Next in the Epstein Files Saga?

In one of her first acts as a member of Congress, newly sworn-in Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) signed the discharge petition to force a vote demanding that the Trump DOJ release the Epstein files. Here’s a primer on how that will play out.

But remember Senate Republicans and the White House won’t go along with the House on this, so the Epstein files aren’t going to suddenly be released. The ultimate “win” here is the damaging floor vote in the House, probably next week. It drives a rare wedge between Trump and House GOPers eager to placate right-wing supporters whose feverish conspiracies about a cabal of elites trafficking in child sex turns out not to have been wrong, just wildly misdirected at Democrats.

Government Shutdown Officially Ends

The House passed the continuing resolution to end the government shutdown, and President Trump signed it late last night in an Oval Office ceremony (where he ignored questions about the Epstein files).

A Rare Display of Bipartisanship

The bipartisan outrage, especially in the House, over the provision in the shutdown deal that allows eight GOP senators to sue because Special Counsel Jack Smith lawfully obtained their phone records wasn’t enough to sink the package, but House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said he will circle back next week and try to repeal the provision.

McGovern: Buried in this bill is a corrupt kickback for eight Republican senators, a million dollar payday funded by taxpayers, taken from the treasury and deposited directly into their pockets. What the hell is wrong with this place?

— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) 2025-11-12T21:50:15.404Z

As Politico first reported, the language of the provision was provided by Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), but according to the WaPo, it was “part of an agreement” between Thune and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-NY).

The Purges: Miami USAO Edition

Miami is ground zero for the what appears to be the widest ranging retributive investigation against President Trump’s foes dating all the way back to the 2016 election. The precise contours of that investigation of the investigators remains a bit murky, but news reports have it initially focusing on former CIA Director John Brennan and others who investigated Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Miami U.S. Attorney Jason Reding Quiñones, who is leading the probe, is already cracking down on prosecutors who don’t fall in line, Bloomberg reports:

South Florida’s chief prosecutor Jason Reding Quiñones and his leadership team effectively forced resignations of two newcomer assistant US attorneys last week by ordering them to sign statements under criminal penalty of perjury, some of the individuals said.

They both chose to quit rather than disclose in writing—with the threat of being indicted over misstatements—the names of colleagues and others with whom they’d discussed their recent assignment to a national security unit expected to target those involved in past cases against President Donald Trump.

There’s no indication the two junior prosecutors had done anything wrong, according to the report:

The two resigning prosecutors, both Republicans who started at the office in 2024, never communicated with the media or shared classified or top-secret information, the individuals said. Rather, they’d sought professional advice from more senior colleagues in and outside the office about whether to accept a politically charged assignment.

Worth a read.

Trump Is the Easiest Mark

ProPublica: The Misleading Story Fox News Told About Portland Before Trump Sent Troops

Venezuela Watch

• In a classified memo produced over the summer, DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel declared that personnel taking part in military strikes on alleged drug-trafficking boats in Latin America would not be exposed to future prosecution, the WaPo reports.
• French foreign minister says U.S. strikes in the Caribbean violate international law.
• Canadian foreign minister is emphatic that her country as “no involvement” in the U.S. strikes.

Happy 25th, TPM!

Josh Marshall wrote the first blog post at TPM on this day in 2000.

In addition to last week’s TPM celebration in NYC, a bunch of fine writers helped us to compile an outstanding series on the evolution of new media and the news environment over the last 25 years. If you haven’t checked it out yet, please give it a look.

The Columbia Journalism Review interviewed Josh to mark the occasion.

Thanks to everyone who has supported us over the years and special thanks for helping us over the past few weeks to celebrate a quarter century of TPM.

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A Scandal Within a Scandal

The Trump DOJ’s bogus prosecution of New York Attorney General Letitia James just got a lot more difficult to pull off, with what appears to be a major administration coverup of the origins of the case against her.

In a new report, the WSJ has fleshed out a Reuters account from last week about the ousting of the acting inspector general at the Federal Housing Finance Agency. It gets a little complicated, but stick with me. It’s important.

As you well know by now, FHFA director Bill Pulte is the instigator of the bogus mortgage fraud investigations of James, Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA). The Trump administration has seized on Pulte’s bogus claims to, variously, indict James, attempt to fire Cook, and launch a criminal investigation of Schiff.

It’s the James case that’s of most interest here. She is seeking to dismiss the indictment against her on the grounds that it is a vindictive and selective prosecution. The new revelations bolster her arguments for dismissal.

Watchdogs at Fannie Mae had been looking into whether Pulte had “improperly obtained mortgage records of key Democratic officials,” including James, the WSJ reports:

Fannie’s ethics and investigations group had received internal complaints alleging senior officials had improperly directed staff to access the mortgage documents of James and others, according to the people. The Fannie investigators were probing to find out who had made the orders, whether Pulte had the authority to seek the documents and whether or not they had followed proper procedure, the people said.

The investigation into who was rifling around in the personal mortgage records of prominent Democrats was serious enough, apparently, to bring it to Joe Allen, the acting inspector general for FHFA, which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. (For those keeping score at home, Pulte is not just just the director of FHFA, he’s also chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.)

That’s where things get interesting, according to the WSJ: “The acting inspector general then passed the report to the U.S. attorney’s office in eastern Virginia, some of the people said.” The Eastern District of Virginia is where recently-installed U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan is prosecuting James.

Still with me?

Last week’s Reuter’s report went further in describing the connection between Allen’s work and the James prosecution (emphasis mine):

Allen received notice of his termination from the White House after he made efforts to provide key information to prosecutors in that office, according to four sources. The information he turned over was constitutionally required, two of them said, while a third described it as being potentially relevant in discovery.

The description by Reuters is vague, but it suggests that Allen was attempting to give exculpatory evidence to the prosecution team, which, generally speaking, the government is legally required to share with the defendant — in this case, James.

In her motion last Friday to dismiss the case for vindictive prosecution, James referenced the Reuters’ report and indicated that she had not received from prosecutors whatever it was that Allen had turned over:

“The defense is left guessing at what other prosecutorial vindictiveness discovery exists in the government’s hands,” James’ lawyers wrote.

Allen wasn’t the only one ousted. About a dozen officials within Fannie Mae’s ethics and internal investigations unit were fired on Oct. 29 in the wake of the probe into origins of the bogus mortgage fraud claims and who had access to the personal mortgage records of James and others.

To sum up: Internal government watchdogs who were looking into the origins of the bogus mortgage fraud claims emanating from the Trump administration were fired en masse, but not before the acting inspector general for the FHFA managed to turn over what appears to be exculpatory evidence to federal prosecutors in the James case.

Stay tuned on this one.

Kash Patel and the ‘Boondoggle Ranch’

In a story headlined “Kash Patel’s ‘Effin Wild’ Ride as FBI Director,” the WSJ brings together the worst of his recent transgressions and adds a new boondoggle:

• Patel allegedly disrupted a counterterrorism investigation by prematurely posting about arrests in Michigan on Halloween: “Two friends of the alleged terrorists in New Jersey and Washington state caught wind of the arrests and moved up plans to leave the country, according to court documents and law-enforcement officials familiar with the investigation.” 
• Patel used his government plane to attend his country music singer girlfriend’s performance of the national anthem in Pennsylvania and then fly to her Nashville home – in the middle of the government shutdown.
• Patel used the Gulfstream G550 to visit a “hunting resort” in Texas called the Boondoggle Ranch.

This mostly pales next to Patel purging the FBI of agents who investigated Trump and allowing the bureau to be used to target Trump foes for retribution, but it is the kind of conduct that can get you in trouble in MAGA world if you’re not the president.

Ed Martin Tries to Save Tina Peters

Former Mesa County clerk Tina Peters was convicted on state charges for trying to prove the 2020 Big Lie, so a presidential pardon from Donald Trump won’t help her, but U.S. pardon attorney Ed Martin is continuing to advocate for some sort of federal intervention on her behalf, CNN reports:

Martin has continued to advocate for relief for Peters in recent weeks, several people familiar with the push told CNN, even though it is extremely unusual for the Justice Department to intervene in a state case this way. The department has already involved itself in a long-shot federal case, known as a habeas petition, that Peters filed in March, and urged a federal judge to free her from state prison while she appeals her conviction. That matter is still pending, but a decision is expected this year.

In the meantime, Martin says the Justice Department is trying to get Peters moved to federal prison.

Trump’s Attack on Higher Ed: Berkeley Edition

A protest Monday night in Berkeley at event held by Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA has gotten the attention of the Trump DOJ. Harmeet Dhillon, the head of the civil rights division, tweeted the announcement of her “investigation” while propagandizing about “Antifa.”

Every protest on a college campus is now a pretext for the Trump administration to “investigate” the university.

The Destruction: CFPB Edition

The Trump DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel has taken the position that the funding mechanism for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is unlawful, leaving the agency with only enough cash to continue operating until early 2026, Politico reports.

Tracking Trump’s Domestic Military Deployments

Lawfare has a new tracker of the size, location, and purported legal authority for President Trump’s various domestic military deployments:

The U.S. military is being used inside the United States. There's a lot we don't know about how, why, and under what authorities.Lawfare's new project–which includes a tracker and a map–follows where and how the military is being domestically deployed. www.lawfaremedia.org/projects-ser…

— Lawfare (@lawfaremedia.org) 2025-11-11T20:46:58.021Z

Venezuela Watch

• The USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group has arrived in the Caribbean region as part of the Trump administration’s saber-rattling directed toward the government of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro.
• Venezuela has responded with a mass mobilization.
• The United Kingdom — one of the Five Eyes countries — has suspended sharing intelligence with the United States about suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean because it does not want to be complicit in what it regards as illegal U.S. strikes, CNN reports.

$3M and ‘Sincere Regrets’

The Kansas newspaper raided by local law enforcement in August 2023 has reached a $3 million settlement with Marion County that includes a public apology.

Quote of the Day

 “Of course he knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop.”–Jeffrey Epstein, referring to Donald Trump in a January 2019 email

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