Massie Revels in Trump’s Epstein Floundering

This is your TPM evening briefing.

Nicole Lafond

and

Khaya Himmelman

Nov 17, 2025

UNITED STATES - NOVEMBER 12: Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., talks with reporters outside the U.S. Capitol before the House voted on the Senate passed bill to reopen the government on Wednesday, November 12, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Trump Is Buying Time

As my colleague David Kurtz articulated well in today’s edition of Morning Memo, the mainstream media has rushed to declare that President Trump has reversed or flipped on releasing all the documents that the Justice Department has on its investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

But that’s not really the case. In a Truth Social post on Sunday, Trump declared his support for an upcoming vote in the House to compel the DOJ to release the full tranche of files it has on Epstein. Trump encouraged House Republicans to vote to release the files just after he spent the weekend doing some 3-D chess to conceal the fact that the only reason the DOJ hasn’t released the documents from the Epstein case is because Trump doesn’t want them released. This also, of course, all comes a few days after Trump’s top officials spent the week last week trying to convince Republicans like Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) to pull their name from a discharge petition in order to block the very floor vote Trump is now, supposedly, endorsing.

On Friday, Trump ordered the Justice Department to investigate a handful of prominent Democrats and institutions for alleged ties to Epstein — conveniently sidestepping the fact that Trump’s own ties to the man who was arrested on child sex trafficking charges in 2019 have been well documented publicly for years. Last week, members of the House Oversight Committee released emails from the Epstein estate that showed Epstein alleging that Trump “knew about the girls” and “spent hours” with one of the victims.

The document dump from the House Oversight Committee launched MAGA world’s ongoing frustration with Trump on Epstein back into the spotlight. Trump, again, is perfectly capable of ordering the DOJ to release the files and has repeatedly not done so.

Knowing that there likely aren’t the votes for the same measure — the one that would compel the DOJ to release the files — in the Senate (and even if there were, Trump still has the power to veto the measure), the president bought himself some time with his supposed endorsement of the vote in the House. That vote is expected this week now that the discharge petition has enough signatures to force a floor vote.

The Republican who began the bipartisan petition in the House alongside Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) is reveling in Trump’s botched handling of the whole situation. In an interview with Politico on Monday, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) was asked about Trump’s sudden support for his efforts — after the White House spent months attacking Massie and trying to bully members out of signing the petition.

“He got tired of me winning,” Massie said.

— Nicole LaFond

MIA FEMA Chief Resigns

The head of FEMA who was criticized for having little relevant experience and for being on vacation and unaccessible during the most crucial days of disaster relief efforts after the flooding in Texas this summer, submitted his two weeks notice this week. The Trump administration was reportedly already planning to oust David Richardson in coming weeks and replace him with Karen Evans, FEMA’s newly appointed chief of staff. Per CNN:

Over the months, [Homeland Security Secretary Kristi] Noem and her team had grown frustrated with Richardson’s distracting antics and failure to effectively communicate their FEMA reforms to Congress and the public, three sources with knowledge of the conversations told CNN. But senior leaders ultimately decided it made more sense to wait until after hurricane season to remove him.
The department has steadily reduced his role, treating him more as a liability than an asset. DHS has repeatedly blocked his requests to speak at conventions or to lead public information campaigns about hurricane season, two sources said.

— Nicole LaFond

Johnson Not Surprised by MTG-Trump Rift

Trump reportedly wouldn’t let Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) run for Senate in Georgia and the longtime MAGA firebrand is responding by trying to seem reasonable to the public. That effort involves criticizing Trump publicly over the Epstein files and the economy. Trump, this weekend, encouraged someone to launch a primary challenge against Greene.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) addressed the drama today, saying the public feud was “not surprising” and defended Trump, saying the president “was frustrated because of some of the criticisms.”

— Nicole LaFond

Trump Doubles Down on Indiana Republicans

President Trump doubled down on his threats against Indiana Republicans who are not bending the knee, announcing in a post on Truth Social that he will endorse primary challengers against the GOP state lawmakers who are blocking his gerrymandering scheme in the state.

“I will be strongly endorsing against any State Senator or House member from the Great State of Indiana that votes against the Republican Party, and our Nation, by not allowing for Redistricting for Congressional seats in the United States House of Representatives as every other State in our Nation is doing, Republican or Democrat,” he wrote.

“Democrats are trying to steal our seats everywhere, and we’re not going to let this happen! This all began with the Rigged Census. We must keep the Majority at all costs. Republicans must fight back!” he added.

The post comes after he similarly slammed Indiana GOP state senators in a Truth Social post over the weekend, after Indiana Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray announced on Friday that there simply were not enough votes to move forward with approving new maps that would flip the only two seats in the state held by Democrats.

Indiana is one of several Republican-led states that has not succumbed to pressure from the Trump administration to participate in his mid-cycle gerrymandering blitz to try to ensure that Republicans keep the House in the midterms.

— Khaya Himmelman