UNITY: It takes a dead sex trafficker and pressure from his female victims to unify the United States Congress.

  The House voted nearly unanimously yesterday to have the Department of Justice release the investigative files on the late Jeffrey Epstein, possibly revealing embarrassing secrets of powerful men. With a vote of 427-1, only Republican Clay Higgins of Louisiana voted “no,” and five members, three Democrats and two Republicans, did not vote.

  The Senate followed by unanimously passing the bill to send it on to President Trump for his signature.

  A group of Epstein’s victims … trafficked as teenagers and grown women now … were in the House and celebrated.

  The bill says that the materials to be released must include those that relate to Epstein’s procurer, Ghislaine Maxwell, flight logs and travel records, and names of people including government officials in connection with the investigation and prosecution of Epstein.

  One potentially big loophole is that it orders protection of files that could affect current investigations

  President Trump fought disclosure of the files for months, feeding suspicions that he has something to hide. Suddenly last weekend he said he would sign a bill if it passes even though all along he’s had the power to simply order release of the Epstein files.

‘THINGS HAPPEN”: Sitting with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office, President Trump yesterday praised the prince and blew off a reporter’s question about the 2018 murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

  As Mary Bruce of ABC News tried to ask her question of bin Salman, Trump repeatedly asked, “Who are you with?” and denounced ABC as “fake news.”

  Then Trump said, “You’re mentioning someone who was extremely controversial,” and that, “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen.” 

  Defending bin Salman, Trump said, “He knew nothing about it” although US intelligence determined that bin Salman ordered the hit.

  An audio recording obtained by Turkish authorities captured the struggle as the Saudi-born Khashoggi was killed and then the sound of a bone saw as he was dismembered.

  But yesterday Trump said to Bruce, “You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking a question like that.”

  A visibly uncomfortable Prince then said of Khashoggi’s death, “It’s painful and it’s a huge mistake.”

  Last night the Prince was the guest of honor at a Black Tie dinner attended by major sports and business figures, including Tesla’s Elon Musk, who had a falling out with the President following his brief service in government.

THE REGIME:

—Over 200 people have been arrested in ICE raids in Charlotte, North Carolina, over the last three days, according to the Department of Homeland Security. 

— A federal court in Texas blocked the state’s new congressional district map drawn to guarantee more seats for Republicans. Gov. Greg Abbott said the state would appeal to the Supreme Court. The 2-1 decision found that “substantial evidence shows that Texas racially gerrymandered the 2025 Map.”

— As it dismantles itself under orders from President Trump, the Department of Education is moving six offices to other agencies, including those that administer $28 billion in grants to K-12 schools and $3.1 billion for programs that help students finish college.

THE WAR ROOM: Nineteen people were killed and 66 wounded in the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil today when a Russian missile hit an apartment building. 

The attack was part of a wave of 470 drones and 48 missiles. Across the country 

at least 22 people were killed and 130 wounded.

  Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has been trying to re-start peace talks with Russia. At the same time, his government has been weakened by a corruption scandal involving some of his closest government associates. Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies on Monday announced that they had uncovered a scheme in which contractors of the state-owned nuclear energy company had been forced to pay hefty kickbacks.

THE SPIN RACK: Pope Leo spoke up against the treatment of immigrants in the US, calling it violent and at times “extremely disrespectful.” Leo said: “We have to look for ways of treating people humanely, treating people with the dignity that they have. If people are in the United States illegally, there are ways to treat that. There are courts. There’s a system of justice.” — Big tech companies may have been given leave to snap up smaller competitors after a federal judge ruled yesterday that Meta had not illegally stifled competition when it bought upstart social media rivals, Instagram and WhatsApp more than 10 years ago. — Investigators found that a single faulty wire caused the engine failure on a cargo ship that lost power and hit Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, leading to its immediate collapse back in March 2024. —Harvard announced an investigation into its professor and former president, Larry Summers, about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein after he was a known sex offender. Summers, who still teaches, was a married man when he asked Epstein how to “get horizontal” with a woman he was pursuing,

BELOW THE FOLD: An Australian serving life in prison for murder has sued for the right to have Vegemite, the yeasty spread that is an Aussie staple … something like Velveeta in the US. But prison officials say the odor of Vegemite is so pungent it’s a problem for search dogs that cruise the prison for contraband.

  It would be a problem for you too if you ever smelled Vegemite.

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