Washington, DC

1. Trump reverses course
2. DC readies for MBS
3. Tariff backtrack
4. Trump-MTG split
5. Latinos cool on Trump
6. MS NOW debuts

Washington View: Epstein and the Media People

Trump to speak at McDonald’s summit … FAA ends shutdown order cutting flights … Bangladesh’s Hasina sentenced to death

Trump backs House vote on Epstein files

House Republicans grappling with whether to vote to release the Justice Department’s files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein this week now have cover to do so from President Donald Trump, who reversed course by calling for them to vote “yes” Sunday. “We have nothing to hide,” he wrote on Truth Social. House Republicans, many of whom would have supported the proposal anyway, have been at a boiling point over the vote: House Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday dismissed it as “a political exercise” while Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., predicted “a deluge of Republicans” would vote “yes,” adding that he hoped for a veto-proof majority. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., doubled down on her support even after Trump attacked her via social media. “I have no idea what’s in the files,” Greene told CNN. “But that is the question everyone is asking. … Why fight this so hard?”

— Eleanor Mueller

Saudi crown prince to get warm welcome

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman drops into Washington this week to much fanfare, with plans for an elaborate dinner and a Kennedy Center investment summit. The crown prince will need to position his country as an “indispensable ally” for the US, writes Semafor’s Matthew Martin: MBS “sees Saudi Arabia as a rising power, able to offer Washington support across a swath of areas close to Trump’s agenda.” That support is likely to include billions of dollars of investment into the US and purchases from US firms, and agreements around critical minerals access. The countries are also expected to announce a defense pact that involves the US providing a security guarantee to Saudi Arabia, similar to the one it gave Qatar earlier this year. The meeting won’t be without tension, though, on issues like normalization with Israel, nuclear technology cooperation, and chips.

White House backs away from tariffs

The Trump administration is backing away from certain tariffs as officials try to blunt the rising cost of goods in the US. Trump late last week signed an executive order that scrapped tariffs on imports of some foods, like coffee, tea, spices, beef and bananas. He’s facing pressure to go further, including from the trade group that represents the spirits industry. The administration hopes to finalize its trade truce with China by Thanksgiving, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Fox News, dismissing murmurs that Beijing might not fully adhere to its pledge to release rare earths. Meanwhile, the administration is complaining that the EU hasn’t relaxed its tariffs on US goods fast enough, despite a joint framework. Beyond easing tariffs, Trump’s team is weighing other strategies for lowering prices, like drug pricing deals and offshore drilling projects, per The Wall Street Journal.

Trump’s public split with MTG

Trump’s split with Marjorie Taylor Greene is complete, after the president rescinded his endorsement and labeled her a “traitor.” The remarkable schism between Trump and the Georgia conservative, who was once among his most loyal allies, has grown for weeks, but her support for the release of the Epstein files helped push the feud over the edge. Greene on Sunday accused Trump of using language that could put her “life in danger,” adding that some of his policies have not been “America-first.” Their breakup signals possible turbulence ahead within the Republican Party as populist and establishment forces vie for influence over Trump’s policies and the future of his brand. Trump’s wrath also sets up a test of whether Greene — who didn’t rule out a 2028 presidential run in a recent Semafor interview — will face a primary challenge as a result.

— Shelby Talcott

Poll: Latinos cool on Trump, Dems lag

New polling from the Latino polling group Equis finds that the president has lost most of his 2024 gains with Latino voters, but Democrats haven’t won those voters back. The “pulse check” study of 2,000 registered voters, taken before the Nov. 4 elections, found 68% of Latino voters disapproving of how Republicans handled the “cost of living.” That was higher than the share who disapproved of sending military units into cities (62%), but the support for Trump on both questions has plunged since last year. Yet only 45% of Latino voters viewed Democrats favorably. “What we’ve seen is this feeling of not knowing who is leading the party, and not visibly seeing leaders fighting against the Trump administration,” said Maria Isabel Di Franco Quiñonez, director of research at Equis. “I think that there will be so many opportunities in the coming months to fight on affordability.”

— David Weigel

MS NOW faces a major test

On Friday evening, the cable channel once known as MSNBC turned off the lights in its old studio space at 30 Rockefeller Center, Semafor’s Max Tani writes. Staff began broadcasting early the next morning from the old New York Times building a few blocks southeast. Onscreen, the changes were minor. But the network is in the midst of its biggest gamble since launching in 1996. Untethered from NBC News, the test for MS NOW will be whether Versant — the public company spun out from network owner Comcast to house its cable assets — will follow through on its promise to reinvest profits back into news coverage, spend them on acquiring other, more promising outlets; or simply compensate shareholders while managing a declining business. Shorter-term, the company has looked into expanding roles for new-media talent like Pablo Torre and collaborating with the likes of Pod Save America.

Buried deep in the House Oversight Committee’s recent release of 20,000 emails from Jeffrey Epstein’s inbox is an 8,684-word profile of the disgraced financier. The article has no byline and, in the way of these document dumps, isn’t obviously connected to anything else. But the amused, morally ambiguous tone is familiar from some of the great biographies of the age — biographies of Trump and Rupert Murdoch in particular.

The author is Michael Wolff, he confirmed when I called him about it Sunday. “Jesus, it’s pretty good!” he said, after giving the PDF a read at his home in Amagansett. Epstein, as Wolff has written before, wanted the incisive and divisive New York media writer to rehabilitate his damaged reputation.

Beltway Newsletters

Punchbowl News: Lawmakers are trying to lock in a Capitol Hill visit for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, likely on Tuesday afternoon.

Axios: Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is eyeing a 2028 presidential run.

Playbook: After Indiana Senate GOP leader Rodric Bray rejected President Trump’s push to redraw the state’s congressional map, Trump has doubled down, inviting Republican holdouts to one-on-one Oval Office meetings starting this week.

WaPo: A group of four Democratic candidates calling themselves the “Hell Cats” hope their military experience combined with a core focus on affordability will allow them to win in competitive House races.

White House

• President Trump told reporters that “we may be having some discussions with” Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.
• The Justice Department quietly updated pardons it had posted online that bore identical copies of Trump’s signature. — AP

Outside the Beltway

• The Pentagon is withdrawing National Guard troops from Chicago and Portland. — NYT
• ‘Gen Z’ protests spread in Mexico.

Inside the Beltway

• A GOP consulting firm with ties to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem received money from DHS’ massive ad campaign. — ProPublica

Campaigns

• The most effective ad supporting California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s successful redistricting measure starred Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., according to the party’s main super PAC. — Axios

Business

• Cantor Fitzgerald is having its most successful year on record, coinciding with former CEO Howard Lutnick’s stint as commerce secretary. — Bloomberg
• Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund sold its shares in several US companies ahead of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to the White House. — FT