“President Trump denounced calls for the release of the Epstein files as a Democratic hoax. He dispatched aides to warn Republicans that backing it would be seen as a ‘hostile act.’ He placed personal calls to those who dared to do so, and even dispatched his attorney general and F.B.I. director to meet with one in the White House Situation Room in efforts to get her to flip,” the New York Times reports.

“In the end, none of it worked. And on Sunday night, Mr. Trump did something he has rarely been forced to do: He caved in the face of pressure from his party and called on House Republicans to go ahead and back a bill that would order his Justice Department to release all of its investigative files on the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.”

Playbook: “What a debacle this has been for the president. Four months of defensive plays that divided his core supporters, wasted precious political capital and offered an open goal to his opponents … and still didn’t prevent the files being dragged out into the open…”

“Which raises a whole separate question as we look toward 2026. Can even Trump cut through the wall of noise that is Trump 2.0? Will a bunch of domestic speeches about the cost of living — even by this president — actually be noticed in a world where the White House has flooded the zone? Judging by the sheer number of storylines the president has unleashed that are eating up coverage this morning — from Epstein to tariffs to deportations to the militarization of U.S. cities to lawfare to war and peace — it looks like an uphill task.”

“President Trump says Americans are lucky he’s in office as he sought Monday to refocus his administration on concerns about the rising cost of living that have gripped much of the country,” Politico reports.

Said Trump: “You probably would have had a bankrupt country. You are so damn lucky that I won that election, I’m telling you.”

“Attorney General Pam Bondi’s prosecutorial sprint speed is improving, at least from the perspective of the man holding a stopwatch, President Trump,” the New York Times reports.

“Just 217 minutes elapsed between Mr. Trump’s command on Friday morning that she investigate prominent Democrats like Bill Clinton who were named in documents Congress obtained from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate and Ms. Bondi’s announcement that she had referred the matter to the U.S. attorney in Manhattan. Earlier demands took days, sometimes weeks, to fulfill.”

“Ms. Bondi’s statement was an unmistakable demonstration of Mr. Trump’s near-total success in subordinating the Justice Department’s post-Watergate independence to his will. Friday was a milestone of sorts. The department was deployed, in effect, as an arm of the president’s rapid-response operation to help him muscle through a damaging news cycle.”

For members: Trump Reopens Epstein Probe to Avoid Releasing the Files

President Trump’s voice was notably hoarse during an Oval Office presser Monday, and one of the first questions from reporters was to ask about the reason why, Mediaite reports.

Said Trump: “I feel great. I was shouting at people because, they were stupid about something having to do with trade in a country, and I straightened it out, but I blew my stack at these people — it’s so stupid.”