Wednesday, November 19, 2025

Trump faces Epstein, affordability dilemmas

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On Politics

Wed Nov 19 2025

Kathryn Palmer | Politics Reporter

@KathrynPlmr

Welcome to OnPolitics. I'm Kathryn Palmer . It was a busy afternoon and evening yesterday in political news, so here's what to know on Wednesday.

Trump faces Epstein, affordability dilemmas

In a little over two months, the president will mark his first full year back in the White House since winning a second term. But that celebration could have a heavy cloud overhead, as President Donald Trump's grasp on the Republican Party shows signs of slipping.

Trump faces a pair of challenges: the Epstein documents and Americans' concerns about affordability. Republican lawmakers rebelled yesterday in passing legislation that would force the Department of Justice to release its files on Jeffrey Epstein, after the president spent months opposing the move. The bill is now headed to his desk after Congress' approval.

Outside of DC, Trump is also facing headwinds from his base, as anxieties over rising prices led him to roll back some of his signature tariff policies, after months of resisting criticism and upending global markets.

In other signs of discontent, MAGA allies are questioning if Trump is spending too much time on foreign policy, and there's rising talk of 2028 GOP presidential candidates, taking the focus off Trump.

President Donald Trump speaks as he hosts a dinner for Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., November 18, 2025.

Tom Brenner, Reuters

A Politics pit stop:

•	Billionaire Tom Steyer is running for California governor and it's not his first office bid
•	A 'vindictive' prosecution? What to know about the James Comey case after today's hearing
•	Millions of Americans could be without healthcare coverage in 2026, if Congress doesn't act
•	A Democratic delegate who texted with Epstein narrowly avoids censure from the House

Court blocks Texas from using new redistricting maps

A federal court yesterday blocked Texas from using its new congressional map for the 2026 midterm elections, directing the state to revert to its previous districts. The decision was swiftly appealed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, sending it to the Supreme Court for justices to decide whether to take up the matter.

The majority opinion said the coalition of voting and civil rights groups who sued was likely to prove at trial that Texas officials had "racially gerrymandered" a new map that "unconstitutionally sorts voters on the basis of race."

The decision marks a significant setback for the state's GOP and Trump, who backed Texas' map redraw intended to give the state more red House seats.

The move launched a political standoff last summer in the Texas legislature before it passed, spurring other states to buck tradition and pursue mid-decade redistricting − either in solidarity or in opposition with the Lone Star state.

One House member voted against releasing Epstein files

In a deeply partisan time, Congress voted overwhelmingly in unison to release the Epstein files yesterday in a rare moment of cross-aisle cooperation.

The Senate passed the bill unanimously. And nearly every member of the House of Representatives voted in favor of the legislation, except for one: Rep. Clay Higgins was the lone 'no' vote.

He said his primary issue was with safeguarding the personal information of Epstein's many victims.

The bill's bipartisan authors – Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, and Ro Khanna, D-California – have stressed that the legislation will not expose victims, because the Act allows the DOJ to withhold certain information, such as personal details about victims and materials that would jeopardize any active federal investigations.

Contact me with questions, comments, concerns: kapalmer@usatoday.com.