Inside Trump’s Desperate Push to Block the Epstein Vote

Leaked emails, a Republican revolt, and a White House scrambling to contain a scandal it can no longer control.

Welcome back to The Red Letter.

It’s starting to feel like the walls are closing in on the White House. Because if history has taught us anything, it’s this: when President Donald Trump insists it’s a hoax that means something very real and very serious is happening off-camera.

Even before these new Epstein-related emails leaked, a senior House Republican source told me Tuesday night that members were already quietly breaking ranks. They admitted, almost sheepishly, that once the Epstein Files Transparency Act hits the floor, voting against it will be politically impossible. And that was before they woke up to headlines linking Trump’s name directly to a known victim.

According to The New York Times’ Annie Karni, Trump has been burning up the phones — calling Lauren Boebert, calling Nancy Mace (who’s running for governor in South Carolina and will need his endorsement) — pressuring them to pull their names off the discharge petition that would force a vote.

A GOP source told me flatly: “Trump has been pressuring them like crazy the last 24 hours.”

It put both women in a vise.

Subscribe to continue reading —

• Which Republicans are now breaking with Trump publicly and privately over the Epstein Files vote.

• Why insiders say this moment marks the first real crack in Trump’s control of the GOP conference.

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