MORE DOCUDRAMA!

Newly released Jeffrey Epstein emails say Donald Trump “knew about the girls.” One Epstein survivor tells What A Day she expects more details about their relationship to come out.

• How much did President Donald Trump know about deceased child sex predator Jeffrey Epstein’s misconduct? We still don’t know for sure, in part because Trump’s Department of Justice and allies in Congress are fighting hammer and tongs to stop us from finding out. But House Democrats released new emails today, in which Epstein himself suggested that Trump “knew about the girls,” without stating exactly what Trump knew about them.

• “I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is trump,” Epstein wrote in a typo-ridden email to his since-jailed associate Ghislaine Maxwell in 2011. “[Victim] spent hours at my house with him ,, he has never once been mentioned.”

• Another email, which Epstein wrote to journalist Michael Wolff in 2019, flatly states: “Of course he knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine [Maxwell] to stop.”

• Trump repeated his claim that this whole thing is a “hoax” orchestrated by his enemies. “The Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again because they’ll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve done on the Shutdown, and so many other subjects,” Trump wrote on Truth Social this afternoon. “Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap.”

• Is this what Trump and his allies have been fighting so hard to keep quiet? Or is there even more? The Department of Justice reportedly informed Trump months ago that his name is mentioned multiple times in the Epstein files.

• “This is interesting information that’s coming out,” Lisa Phillips, a survivor of Epstein’s abuse, told What A Day. “This is what everybody wants to hear, the relationship between Trump and Epstein. I think you’re seeing more of the tumultuous relationship that they did have.”

The White House and Republicans are trying to spin the new emails in Trump’s favor.

• Trump’s team and GOP lawmakers are in lockstep. “The Democrats selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. That’s very similar wording to Republicans on the House Oversight Committee: “Democrats are trying to create a fake narrative to slander President Trump.”

• The White House and Oversight Republicans are trying to undercut the new emails by accusing Democrats of hiding the name of the victim mentioned in them. The unnamed victim, according to them, is Virginia Giuffre, who said during a civil deposition in 2016: “I don’t think Donald Trump participated in anything.” Giuffre died by suicide earlier this year. Her memoir’s ghostwriter said that Giuffre was a “huge Trump fan” because she believed he would release the files.

• The new emails couldn’t have come at a worse time for House Republicans. Speaker Mike Johnson finally called lawmakers back into session this week — for the first time in 54 days. He swore in Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ), who provided the decisive 218th signature on a petition that will force the House to vote to demand that the DOJ release more Epstein files. Many observers expect that measure to die in the Senate — but Trump is still mounting a last-ditch pressure campaign to convince GOP lawmakers to take their names off the petition, anyway.

• “The president trying to cover up his relationship with a notorious child sex trafficker is one of the biggest scandals in political history,” Crooked’s Dan Pfeiffer tweeted.

I asked Lisa Phillips: “Do you expect us to learn more about their relationship?” She responded: “Well yeah, I think so. Don’t you?”

WHAT ELSE?

Donald Trump officially requested that Israeli President Isaac Herzog pardon Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, describing the PM’s corruption charges as “political lawfare.” That’s not exactly how this works: Only a defendant or member of his family can request a pardon, according to Israeli legal procedures. But what even are rules these days?

Jack Schlossberg announced that he’s running for outgoing Rep. Jerry Nadler’s (D-NY) seat. Best known for being former President John F. Kennedy’s grandson, Schlossberg has gained online fame recently for his bizarre antics on social media. For example, he once tweeted: “True or false: Usha Vance is way hotter than Jackie O.” Yes, that is his own grandmother he’s talking about.

The private government jet often used by FBI Director Kash Patel has taken at least 50 trips since he was sworn in, according to the Wall Street Journal. That includes nine stops in Las Vegas and seven stops in Nashville, the hometown of his 26-year-old country singer girlfriend. Hard at work on the people’s business, eh, Kash?

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) blasted Senate Democrats for making a deal with Republicans to end the shutdown. “There’s a lot of focus rightfully on Leader Schumer, but I do think that when it comes to the Senate, it is Senate Democrats that select their leadership,” said AOC, who is rumored to be considering a Senate run against Schumer. “And so I actually think this problem is much bigger than Leader Schumer.” New York politics could get even more interesting next year!

Gov. Gavin Newsom is stealing the show at the COP30 climate summit in Brazil this week, pitching himself as a “stable and reliable” American partner. He also described Trump’s oil drilling plans off the California coast as “disgraceful” and called for Democrats to reframe climate as a “cost of living issue.” Can this guy just announce his run for president and get it over with???

The CIA secretly sabotaged Afghanistan’s massive poppy industry during the war in the Middle East by covering farmers’ fields with genetically modified seeds, which produced plants without enough chemicals that are refined into heroin, the Washington Post reports. You really never know what these guys are up to.

Maine Democratic Senate hopeful Graham Platner could lose to incumbent Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) due to his controversial online history, according to a poll conducted by EMILYs List. The poll didn’t test how Gov. Janet Mills (D-ME) would fare against Collins, and it’s worth noting that EMILYs List has endorsed Mills in the primary.

An AI-generated country song called “Walk My Walk” by Breaking Rust topped the U.S. music charts this week. As one YouTube commenter wrote under the song, this is “music for stetson wearing robots.” Honestly, I’d like to see that robot in stetsons a lot more than I want to listen to this soulless digital clanker-ballad.

LIGHT AT THE END OF THE EMAIL…

This one’s bittersweet: The U.S. Mint printed its last pennies today, which could save the U.S. some $56 million annually. So, it’s officially extra lucky if you find a penny face-up on the ground, and dig around in your couch for any loose ones! Who knows how much they’ll be worth one day….

An adorable goat named Little Leaf is on the roadtrip of a lifetime thanks to Kate Cramer, an artist who saved the baby goat’s life five years ago. The pair have visited 41 states together and even share a bed. After Cramer’s daughter left for college, Little Leaf “really grounded me and gave me something to take care of and focus on again,” she said.

An army of bagpipers in Australia broke the world record for largest bagpipe ensemble, with 374 musicians belting AC/DC’s “It’s a Long Way to the Top.” The event was billed as the “The Great Melbourne Bagpipe Bash,” and I would like to know where to sign up for the next one.

Northern lights lit up the sky near Washington, D.C. last night, and residents may be able to see them again tonight. This time lapse is so awesome.