Trump news at a glance: president faces potentially damaging congressional vote over releasing Epstein files

Trump faces prospect of congressional vote on releasing Epstein files

The outlet reported that the meeting happened hours after Democrats on the House of Representatives’ oversight committee released a trove of emails from the files that suggested that Trump may have known more about Epstein’s underage sex trafficking activities than he previously acknowledged.

The disgraced late financier – who died by suicide in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial – wrote in one email that Trump, his former close friend, “knew about the girls”.

The New York Times reported that the White House sought to persuade Boebert to change her mind – enlisting Pam Bondi, the attorney general, and the FBI director, Kash Patel – before issuing “vague threats” when the tactic did not work.

The paper, citing people “familiar with her thinking”, reported that the hardline approach had the counterproductive effect of persuading Boebert that there may be a conspiracy to conceal the contents of the files and caused her to dig in.

_{Read the full story}

US justice department joins lawsuit to block California’s new electoral map

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in California, challenges the congressional map championed by Gavin Newsom, the state’s Democratic governor, in response to a Republican gerrymander in Texas, sought by Donald Trump. The justice department’s intervention in the case sets up a high-profile showdown between the Trump administration and Newsom, one of the president’s chief antagonists and a possible 2028 contender.

_{Read the full story}

BBC apologises to Trump over edited speech

However, the corporation has rejected his demands for compensation, after lawyers for Trump threatened to sue for $1bn (£760m) in damages unless the BBC issued a retraction, apologised and settled with him.

The BBC has also agreed not to show the edition of Panorama again.

_{Read the full story}

James Comey and Letitia James to challenge validity of Trump-era charges

James Comey, the former FBI director, and the New York attorney general, Letitia James, will ask a federal judge on Thursday to drop the criminal charges against them, arguing that Donald Trump’s hand-picked US attorney, who obtained the indictments against them, was unlawfully appointed.

The hearing at the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia in front of Judge Cameron Currie will mark the first time a judge will consider one of several efforts James and Comey have made to dismiss the indictments before trials.

_{Read the full story}

Eric Swalwell under federal investigation for alleged mortgage fraud

The Democratic congressman is the latest target of Trump’s retribution campaign against his critics, the congressman confirmed on Thursday.

NBC News reports that Swalwell is facing a federal criminal investigation for alleged mortgage fraud, just as three other Democratic officials have faced in recent months. The outlet says the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency sent a letter to the attorney general claiming Swalwell may have committed mortgage and tax fraud.

_{Read the full story}

Trump Organization sought to bring in nearly 200 workers on visas in 2025

Donald Trump’s family business increased the pace at which it hired foreign workers on temporary visas this year, even as his administration was placing obstacles in the way of other businesses that wanted to do the same, a report published Thursday claimed.

According to Forbes, which analyzed data from the US Department of Labor, the Trump Organization sought to bring in at least 184 foreign workers in 2025 for temporary positions at the US president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, two golf clubs and his Virginia winery.

_{Read the full story}

Donald Trump to pardon UK billionaire and former Tottenham owner Joe Lewis

Joe Lewis, the British billionaire and former owner of Tottenham Hotspur FC, is to be pardoned by Donald Trump over a 2024 conviction for his part in a “brazen” insider trading scheme.

Lewis, 88, was fined $5m (£3.8m) and given three years of probation by a New York judge last year but was spared jail time after pleading guilty to involvement in a plan that prosecutors said was designed to enrich his friends, lovers and employees.

_{Read the full story}

What else happened today:

• The New York City mayoral election may be remembered for the remarkable win of a young democratic socialist, but it was also marked by something that is likely to permeate future elections: the use of AI-generated campaign videos.

• The US state department has announced that it will designate four European self-described anti-fascist groups as Foreign Terrorist Organisations, as the Trump administration broadens its campaign against what it portrays as an international wave of leftist violence.

• Wall Street came under pressure on Thursday, enduring its worst day in a month as a sell-off of technology stocks intensified. After an extraordinary rally around hopes for artificial intelligence that propelled global stock markets to record highs, fears that tech firms are now overvalued loom large.

• While Donald Trump’s justice department has downplayed the possibility that other men were involved in Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of teen girls, an email released on 12 November as part of the House oversight committee’s Epstein investigation shows an exchange between the late financier and an associate where they discuss “girls” and travel.

• Pennsylvania senator John Fetterman was hospitalized on Thursday after a heart condition flare-up caused him to fall on his face outside his home.