GOP prepares for late-night vote on Trump’s DOGE cuts package ahead of deadline

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Rep. Chip Roy, left, and Rep. Ralph Norman, both pictured in May.

Reps. Chip Roy and Ralph Norman, conservative hardliners who sit on the powerful House Rules Committee, would not say if House GOP leadership has committed to bringing up a full House vote on releasing Epstein materials.

Republicans on the committee advanced a non-binding resolution that calls for the release of Epstein-related materials after a day of intense talks with GOP holdouts amid calls from a number of Republicans for more transparency. There is nothing that would compel this to the floor, however. House Rules Chair Virginia Foxx said when the resolution is brought to the floor will be “up to the Majority Leader.”

Pressed on whether House Speaker Mike Johnson or House Majority Leader Steve Scalise have agreed to hold a vote on the measure, Roy demurred. “You have to talk to Mike and Steve about that. We just worked through the system here to get this through,” he told reporters after the Rules Committee adjourned.

Democrats tried to put teeth behind the GOP’s Epstein resolution and convert it into a bill that would have been enforceable, but Republicans blocked it.

Asked about the Wall Street Journal’s reporting on a birthday letter allegedly gifted to Jeffrey Epstein bearing Trump’s name, and Trump’s insistence that it is fake, Roy said, “if the president says it’s not real, then I’ll take the president’s word.”

This screengrab taken from a video shows the House Rules Committee on Thursday.

The House Rules Committee has voted to advance President Donald Trump’s DOGE cuts package, a key hurdle the bill needed to clear before it can come to the floor for consideration.

Separately, Republicans advanced a non-binding resolution that calls for the release of Jeffrey Epstein-related materials after a day of intense talks with GOP holdouts demanding a vote on the Epstein situation amid calls from a number of Republicans for more transparency. There is nothing that would compel this to the floor, however.

House Rules Chair Virginia Foxx of North Carolina said when the resolution is brought to the floor it will be “up to the majority leader.” It’s unclear when the full House will vote on this non-binding resolution.

Democrats tried to put teeth behind the GOP’s Epstein resolution and convert it into a bill that would have been enforceable, but Republicans blocked it.

In order to speed up the voting process on the DOGE package, Republicans used a procedural tool called a “deemer” to tuck the spending cuts package into the rule, a move that will allow them to skip a separate, final passage vote on the DOGE cuts package.

Instead, once the rule passes, the cuts package will be deemed passed as well.

Charlie Kirk, left, and Laura Loomer.

Some of the most influential online supporters of President Donald Trump who have pushed the administration to release more information on Jeffrey Epstein are casting doubt on new reporting from the Wall Street Journal about a letter bearing Trump’s name that was given to the late financier for his 50th birthday in 2003.

Laura Loomer, one of Trump’s most vociferous defenders who has also criticized Attorney General Pam Bondi for her handling of files related to the Epstein case, described the Wall Street Journal story published on Thursday as “bulls**t.”

Loomer had told Politico Sunday that the administration should appoint a special counsel “to do an independent investigation of the handling of the Epstein files,” adding she does not believe Bondi “has been transparent or done a good job handling this issue.”

Charlie Kirk, another influential MAGA voice who criticized Bondi, said on X: “This is not how Trump talks at all. I don’t believe it.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi attends a cabinet meeting hosted by President Donald Trump on July 8.

President Donald Trump announced tonight on Truth Social that he’s asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to produce “any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony,” related to accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, seeming to bow to pressure to release more material on the case.

Bondi quickly reposted Trump’s comments on X and wrote: “President Trump—we are ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts.”

Her department could ask judges to make such material public, but the process could be lengthy as the courts weigh privacy and other concerns.

Trump’s announcement comes hours after The Wall Street Journal published a report detailing a birthday letter sent to Jeffrey Epstein bearing Trump’s name. In a post responding to the story, Trump called the report “a false, malicious, and defamatory story,” and threatened to sue the paper, Editor-in-Chief Emma Tucker, and parent company NewsCorp’s chairman, Rupert Murdoch.

It also comes amid growing calls, including from members of Trump’s own base, for more transparency surrounding the investigation into Epstein, a convicted sex offender who authorities have said killed himself while awaiting trial on federal charges.

In a memo last week, the Justice Department said it wouldn’t release any more documents related to the case, infuriating an influential contingent of Trump supporters who believed the administration would make all of the Epstein files public. Much of the ire was directed at Bondi.

Trump was laudatory of his attorney general, saying she could release any more “credible” files. He decried “some stupid and foolish Republicans” who were focused on the issue and attacked Democrats for perpetuating a “hoax” aimed at targeting him politically.

The outside of the global headquarters of News Corporation, a multinational mass media corporation, founded by Rupert Murdoch and headed by the Murdoch family, is pictured on March 11 in New York.

President Donald Trump vowed to sue The Wall Street Journal, News Corp and Rupert Murdoch after the Journal reported today that a note bearing Trump’s name and an outline of a naked woman were included in a collection of letters gifted to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003.

In his first public reaction to the news organization’s report, Trump wrote on Truth Social that the Journal “and Rupert Murdoch, personally, were warned directly by President Donald J. Trump that the supposed letter they printed by President Trump to Epstein was a FAKE and, if they print it, they will be sued.”

CNN has reached out to The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones for comment.

Murdoch is the founder of News Corp., which purchased Dow Jones, the publisher of The Wall Street Journal, in 2007.

Vice President JD Vance attends listens as President Donald Trump meets with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office at the White House on Monday, in Washington, DC.

Vice President JD Vance called a Wall Street Journal report about a letter bearing Donald Trump’s name that was sent to Jeffrey Epstein on his 50th birthday report “complete and utter bulls**t,” writing on social media the news organization should be ashamed for publishing it.

“Where is this letter? Would you be shocked to learn they never showed it to us before publishing it?” Vance wrote in a post to social media platform X. “Does anyone honestly believe this sounds like Donald Trump?”

Trump himself had denied writing the letter.

“This is not me. This is a fake thing. It’s a fake Wall Street Journal story,” the president told the news organization. “I never wrote a picture in my life. I don’t draw pictures of women.”

“It’s not my language. It’s not my words,” he added.

What’s the Journal story: The news organization reported that a collection of letters gifted to Epstein in 2003 included a note bearing Trump’s name and an outline of a naked woman. The drawing depicted a woman’s breasts and a “Donald” signature in the place of pubic hair surrounding several lines of typewritten text, according to the newspaper, which reviewed the letter.

The White House did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.

US House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks to members of the media while walking to the House Chamber during a vote at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on Thursday.

House Republican leaders are preparing for a late night in the chamber as they try to jam through President Donald Trump’s $9 billion package of cuts to federal funding — after a day of intense talks with GOP holdouts demanding a vote on a Jeffrey Epstein-related measure.

Republican leadership sources say the plan is to push the Department of Government Efficiency cuts bill through the chamber sometime tonight — which could spill into the overnight hours. GOP lawmakers are signaling there’s been a resolution in their dispute on an Epstein-related vote, but they have yet to divulge details on any potential deal.

The House Rules Committee is now meeting to consider the package and must approve the rule, which governs floor debate, before the full House can act.

It’s unclear how long the Rules Committee will meet, but Democrats are planning to force amendment votes to put Republicans on the record over whether the Trump administration should release additional files from the Epstein case.

In the committee meeting, Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern has demanded to see the details of any deal the GOP had reached over an Epstein-related vote, but so far, Republicans have declined to provide that information.

Once the panel adopts the rule, the full House would then need to approve it — and Republicans can only afford to lose three GOP votes on the expected party-line vote. Then, the chamber would vote on final passage of the underlying bill.

How late the vote will go is unclear.

Rep. Thomas Massie at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, July 2.

GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky now has enough Republican support to force a vote on legislation to release all of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

It’s unclear, however, when such a vote could occur or whether House GOP leadership would take other steps to block it from happening.

Massie, who has joined with Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California to spearhead the effort, needs at least six House Republicans and all 212 House Democrats to support what is known as a discharge petition. This would allow him to bypass leadership and force a vote on his bill on the floor.

Massie said on X that he has nine Republican and three cosponsors for his legislation as of this afternoon.

The Republican cosponsors — Marjorie Taylor Greene, Tim Burchett, Eli Crane, Lauren Boebert, Jeff Van Drew, Eric Burlison, Cory Mills, Tom Barrett and Max Miller — include some of President Donald Trump’s close allies in Congress.

Along with Khanna, Democratic Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Jim McGovern have also signed onto the legislation, according to Massie. In his weekly news conference, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries declined to say whether he expects all Democrats to sign onto Massie’s petition.

Rep. Tim Burchett speaks to members of the media on Thursday.

President Donald Trump is accusing Republicans of following a Democratic “hoax” as they call for more information to be released on Jeffrey Epstein.

As Democrats also push for more Epstein information, Burchett asked “where were they the last four years when I was up here raising hell about it?” He praised Rep. Thomas Massie’s effort to force a House vote to release Epstein files, which has at least one Democratic cosponsor.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the former Democratic House Speaker, pushed back on the accusation that Democrats are just now starting to care about Epstein. Republicans are “the ones having majority. And every single one of them voted against releasing the files,” she said, referencing House Republicans blocking a vote to include a measure — sponsored by Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna — on releasing Epstein files to a procedural vote.

On Trump calling it a Democratic “hoax,” Pelosi said “he’s always blaming things on Democrats.”

The Federal Reserve building is seen as it goes under construction on Thursday, in Washington, DC.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell responded by letter today to a senior Trump administration official who accused the head of the central bank of mismanaging an “ostentatious overhaul” of its Washington, DC, headquarters.

Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, suggested in a social media post last week that Powell had broken the law by failing to comply with government oversight regulations related to the Fed’s ongoing $2.5 billion renovation, which includes the historic marble Marriner S. Eccles Building on the National Mall.

He gave Powell “seven business days” to respond to the July 10 letter.

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell leaves after holding a news conference on June 18, in Washington, DC.

Powell said in his response that the renovation and its financing have always had careful oversight from the central bank’s board and its own watchdog. He added that the Fed is “not generally subject to the direction” of the National Capital Planning Commission, a body that oversees construction projects for the federal government. Powell said the Fed voluntarily opted to collaborate with the NCPC.

“We have taken great care to ensure the project is carefully overseen since it was first approved by the Board in 2017,” Powell wrote.

Additionally, Powell said upgrades that were reflected in official planning documents submitted to the NCPC in 2021 were later taken out, but the Fed didn’t need to resubmit paperwork because they weren’t “substantial.”

The letter is similar to a FAQ posted on the Fed’s website last week.

Vought is one of several officials in the Trump administration to criticize the rising costs of repair and renovation work on two major buildings in the Fed complex, seemingly as a pretext to justify firing the Fed chair.

Powell, who cannot be removed except “for cause,” presides over the Fed’s monetary policy committee that has been holding interest rates at current levels all year, contrary to President Donald Trump’s wishes for lower borrowing costs.

President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn upon arrival at the White House in Washinton DC, on Sunday.

President Donald Trump has been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, the White House revealed today.

The president’s doctor noted that the condition is common among older adults and said that further testing did not show signs of heart failure, arterial or other serious illnesses.

The news comes as the Trump administration attempts to move forward with its Department of Government Efficiency spending cuts agenda and sidestep pressure to release more files on Jeffrey Epstein.

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House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks to members of the media at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on Thursday.

House Rules Committee members are meeting off the chamber floor today as their fight over the release of information from the Jeffrey Epstein case threatens to endanger the House’s ability to meet a critical deadline for passing spending cuts by President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency.

House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters to “hang on” when asked if they had a deal related to the Epstein files and later said they were “still working” on a deal to act on the White House’s rescissions package — the request to claw back $9 billion in federal funds.

Johnson, along with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, House Rules Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, Rep. Ralph Norman, Rep. Chip Roy and other committee members were at the meeting.

Scalise told CNN they were “working through a lot of options.”

The House faces a deadline Friday at midnight to act on the funding cuts package.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi talks with CNN's Manu Raju on Thursday.

Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker of the House of Representatives, lashed out and ridiculed the Trump administration as senior Cabinet officials toured Alcatraz and weigh turning the tourist attraction back into a prison, calling it the “stupidest” idea yet from the president.

“This notion of turning Alcatraz back into a prison was the stupidest initiative coming from this administration, with stiff competition for that honor,” Pelosi told CNN’s Manu Raju. “To convert it back to prison will cost billions of dollars, at the same time as they are increasing the national debt to the tune of trillion dollars to give tax cuts to the richest people in America.”

Alcatraz shuttered as a prison over 60 years ago, but a Justice Department official said officials are “discussing facilities with Park Police on the ground, and directing staff to collaborate on the necessary planning to rehabilitate and reopen the facility.”

Pelosi warned that the effort could never succeed because it would get blocked by Congress.

“They can’t, and they won’t, and it isn’t going to happen,” Pelosi responded when asked if the administration could do without congressional approval.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson arrives for a news conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington, Tuesday.

President Donald Trump’s package of Department of Government Efficiency spending cuts is being held up for now in the GOP-controlled House because of unrelated frustration from some House Republicans over their leadership’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case, according to two people familiar with the discussions.

The House Rules Committee – which must consider bills before they can come to the House floor – has not yet scheduled a meeting for today to consider the package.

Republican members on the committee have staged a mini revolt over Speaker Mike Johnson’s handling of a Democratic amendment that would have required the administration to turn over all Epstein-related files within 30 days.

One Republican on the panel, Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, did vote for that language earlier in the week, but Republicans were discouraged from doing so en masse.

They now want Johnson to offer them a different Epstein transparency measure to avoid political blowback back home, where their MAGA base is angry with Trump’s Justice Department about its decision to not release additional files from the, those two sources said.

House GOP leadership was floating the idea of introducing an Epstein resolution to members as of this afternoon, according to one GOP lawmaker familiar with the conversations.

CNN has reached out to Johnson’s office.

The House faces a Friday deadline to give final approval to Trump’s DOGE cuts to foreign aid and public broadcasting. But the Rules Committee must meet to officially tee up the Senate-passed measure before it can come to the House floor.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during the daily briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on Thursday.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt floated the prospect of imprisoning immigrants awaiting deportation at Alcatraz prison should the administration be able to reopen it.

Leavitt said President Donald Trump “wants to see housed in Alcatraz the worst of the worst criminals in this country — both American criminals who [commit] heinous crimes, but also illegal alien criminals before deportation as well.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum traveled to Alcatraz earlier today to tour the prison, which Trump has expressed interest in reopening after more than 60 years.

Bondi and Burgum would oversee Alcatraz if the government determines it can be put back into use.

After touring the facility, Bondi touted the prison during an interview with Fox News and said that, if reopened, it could be used to hold “violent prisoners.”

Maurene Comey arrives at the federal courthouse in Manhattan during Sean Combs' trial on May 21.

The White House told reporters Thursday that the decision to fire federal prosecutor Maurene Comey Wednesday was made by the Department of Justice.

“This was a decision that was made by the Department of Justice,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters during Thursday’s press briefing, referring additional questions to the attorney general’s office.

Comey — the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey — worked in the Southern District of New York and served as a prosecutor in the case against accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and more recently against Sean “Diddy” Combs.

The reason for her firing was not immediately clear, but a person familiar with the situation said being a Comey is untenable in this administration given her father James Comey is “constantly going after the administration.”

In an email to her former colleagues following her firing, Comey wrote that her sudden firing should “fuel the fire” of their work fighting abuses of power.

President Donald Trump meets with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 14.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to say whether President Donald Trump still supports Syria’s interim president after the US intervened to broker a truce between the Syrian government and an Arab minority group in the region.

“The president still supports Syria’s pathway to a peaceful and prosperous country,” Leavitt said during a briefing today. “We continue to be very actively monitoring the situation.”

Trump met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in May, announcing then that the US would lift sanctions on the country and explore normalizing relations. The president at the time was complimentary of Sharaa, calling him a “young, attractive guy, tough guy.”

But clashes between the Syrian government and a minority group, the Druze, in recent days prompted Israel to strike the nation’s capital in an action it said was meant to protect the group. The US has since helped broker a ceasefire.

“As soon as the United States became involved in this conflict, we were able to de-escalate, de-conflict. That seems to be continuing,” Leavitt said.

President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn upon arrival at the White House in Washinton DC, on Sunday.

President Donald Trump was examined for swelling in his legs and has been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, the White House announced Thursday.

Trump, 79, underwent a “comprehensive examination, including diagnostic vascular studies” with the White House Medical Unit, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, reading from a note from the president’s physician, Capt. Sean Barbabella.

Barbabella’s note stated that “bilateral lower extremity venous doppler ultrasounds were performed and revealed chronic venous insufficiency, ICD-9, a common condition, particularly in individuals over the age of 70.”

The examination came after Trump had “noted mild swelling in his lower legs” over recent weeks, Leavitt said.

Reading Barbabella’s note, Leavitt said there was “no evidence of deep vein thrombosis or arterial disease,” and that Trump’s lab testing was all “within normal limits.” Trump also underwent an echocardiogram, which found “no signs of heart failure, renal impairment, or systemic illness,” she said.

Chronic venous insufficiency is a condition in which valves inside certain veins don’t work the way they should, which can allow some of the blood to pool or collect in the veins. About 150,000 people are diagnosed with it each year, and the risk goes up with age. Symptoms can include swelling in the lower legs or ankles, aching or cramping in the legs, varicose veins, pain or skin changes. Treatment may involve medication or, in later stages, medical procedures.

The press secretary also addressed bruising that has appeared on the back of the president’s hand, which she attributed to his “frequent handshaking,” plus his use of aspirin.

Wounded people are brought to Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital after an Israeli attack targeted the Holy Family Church in Gaza City on Thursday.

Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu conceded that an Israeli strike on Gaza’s only Catholic Church, which killed three people and injured several more, was a “mistake” in a Thursday call with President Donald Trump, the White House said.

Asked about Trump’s view on the strike, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described it as “not a positive reaction” and said Netanyahu had conceded the direct hit on the church was a “mistake.”

“He called Prime Minister Netanyahu this morning to address the strikes on that church in Gaza,” Leavitt told reporters.

She continued, “The prime minister agreed to put out a statement that it was a mistake by the Israelis to hit that Catholic Church. That’s what the prime minister relayed to the president.”

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, told Vatican News that the church was hit “directly” by a tank, and Pope Leo XIV said he was “deeply saddened” by the news and reiterated his calls for a ceasefire.

The president’s call with Netanyahu comes after the Israeli prime minister visited Washington last week, and Trump encouraged his counterpart to accept a ceasefire deal. Negotiations between Israel and Hamas in Qatar remain ongoing.