At a reception with members of Congress last night, President Trump claimed that the festering scandal regarding the Epstein files had actually made his poll numbers improve, Mediaite reports.

Said Trump: “I have the best numbers I’ve ever had. You know, it’s amazing, I watch people on television, ‘Well, what about Donald Trump’s polling numbers?’ Yeah, they’re the best numbers I’ve ever had.”

He added: “And with this made-up hoax that they’re talking about, my numbers have gone up four and five points. They want to do anything to get us off the subject of making America great again, and we’re not gonna put up with it.”

“The leadership of the U.S. attorney’s office in New Jersey was thrown into confusion on Tuesday as top Justice Department officials pushed back after federal judges in the state moved to appoint a new U.S. attorney,” the New York Times reports.

“The panel of federal judges rejected Alina Habba’s bid to stay in the job as the state’s U.S. attorney. Instead, they invoked a rarely used power to select a candidate of their own, Desiree Leigh Grace, an experienced prosecutor whom Ms. Habba had named as her first assistant soon after she took over as interim U.S. attorney in March.”

“But the attorney general, Pam Bondi, responded Tuesday evening with a social media post defending Ms. Habba and saying that the first assistant — Ms. Grace — ‘has just been removed.’”

Playbook: “It has the makings of the next big Trump legal fight over the judiciary, even though the place of courts in filling U.S. attorney roles until Senate confirmation has been upheld by Congress before.”

New York Times: “Horse-trading behind the scenes has always powered much of what goes on in Congress, particularly when it comes to major legislative pushes. But the past several weeks have been dominated by an extraordinary flurry of handshake deals and written carve-outs meant to assuage the most anxious Republicans, often with scant details about how the exceptions will be implemented or enforced.”

Punchbowl News: “Epstein has been dead for six years. But the disgraced financier has become more politically significant in death than he ever was while alive. And he’s playing an unusually large role in the day-to-day operations of Congress. The furor over the Epstein scandal shut down the House again this week…”

“As for the House’s Epstein debacle, there’s enough blame to go around — between the White House and GOP leadership. Johnson allowed Rules to pass a non-binding resolution last week, which seemed insufficient at the time and has proven so since. Johnson and House GOP leaders should’ve known this wasn’t going to be enough to calm the Epstein angst.”

“Trump is giving Hill Republicans absolutely no cover here. The White House’s posture seems to be that the House Republicans should suck it up and back Trump over Epstein.”

“By giving the White House the month until September to release documents, Johnson has all but guaranteed that the story continues.”