Trump says he would sign bill to release Epstein files if it reaches his desk
U.S. President Donald Trump listens as first lady Melania Trump speaks at a signing ceremony for the “Fostering the Future” executive order in the East Room of the White House on November 13, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Monday said he would sign the bill to compel the Justice Department to release all files relating sex offender Jeffrey Epstein if it comes to his desk.
“I’m all for it,” he said as he took reporter questions during an event in the Oval Office, contending the controversy is deflecting from his administration successes.
Pressed again moments later if he would sign the bill that the House is set to take up Tuesday, Trump replied: “Sure I would.”
“Let the Senate look at it. Let anybody look at it. But don’t talk about it too much, because, honestly, I don’t want it to take away from us. It’s really a Democrat problem,” he said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — GOP Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer said Sunday that Minnesota laws should have prevented the suspect from purchasing a gun that allowed them to kill two children and wound more than a dozen other people in a shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Emmer’s home state.
“Look, this young man was seriously mentally disabled, deranged. Somebody had to know,” Emmer told ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz, adding “clearly this young man was crying out for help. Why was no one hearing him?”
Emmer said the shooter “never should have had access or been able to possess a firearm based on what little we already know,” adding that somebody who knew the shooter had to have known about Minnesota’s so-called “red flag” law.
“What that’s all about is, it’s usually used by a parent or, a law enforcement officer to go to the court and get an order that this individual, because of their emotional state, the mental, challenges that they have, the mental illness, cannot, should not, possess a firearm because they be a danger to themselves and or others,” Emmer said.
Investigators found the shooter’s notebooks, written in a combination of English, Cyrillic and other languages and showing thoughts of violence and grievances. According to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara, the notebooks filled with the shooter’s thoughts possessed “lot of hate towards a wide variety of people and groups of people.” The acting U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota said the only group of people the shooter admired were “mass murderers.”
Emmer also cited mental health as an issue and lack of resources in school as contributing to gun violence in the U.S. However, Emmer notably voted against the 2022 Bipartisan School Safety Act that Congress passed after 21 people, including 19 children, were killed by a mass shooter at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
The bill was considered the most significant action the legislature had taken to tackle gun violence in decades. It allocated hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds for school districts to enhance safety and mental health resources.
When asked why he voted against the legislation, Emmer said, “I don’t remember the reasons that I didn’t vote for that bill.” Emmer added that the “root cause” cause of violence must be identified to stop violence.
Here are more highlights from Emmer’s Interview:
On the victims of the church shooting Emmer: As you know, there were 20 that were injured. Eighteen of them are still being treated, 15 children and three adults in, according to the folks in Minneapolis, all are expected to survive. I think Chief O’Hara, the Minneapolis police chief, told us yesterday that all the victims are expected to survive. But, Martha, just because they survive, the trauma that all of these kids, the families that lost their two children, all the kids and the adults that were injured, and every one of them that was at that Mass and, frankly, in the community, is going to be dealing with this for a long time.
On law enforcement in churches and schools Raddatz: And Congressman, in the short term, or maybe the long term, should law enforcement increase its presence in schools and places of worship? I know the governor has deployed them now.
Emmer: Yes, well, thanks a lot, Governor. He — yes, the answer is, yes. The Catholic community, along with other faith-based schools in this area, just a couple of years ago, when Tim Walz and the legislature were blowing through an $18 billion surplus, they asked for some of those resources, Martha, to — for improving security in their schools. It was after the — the very sad incident in Kentucky. What did Tim Walz do? Absolutely nothing. So, it — it’s — yes, it’s going to be very important that these schools have the resources.
The other thing that you have to look at, Minneapolis, because of these crazy policies that the governor, the young mayor, the progressive, if that’s what you want to call her, county attorney, the Minneapolis school board, back in 2020, said — they voted out having a Minneapolis policeman as a resource officer on the school property. I think we’ve got to go back and rethink these things. What works? What doesn’t work? And we’ve got to start improving our game.
(WASHINGTON) — Most Americans oppose the demolition of the White House’s East Wing to make way for President Donald Trump’s ballroom, according to an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll conducted using Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel.
A 56% majority of Americans oppose the Trump administration tearing down the East Wing of the White House as part of the construction of a 90,000-square-foot ballroom paid for by $300 million in private donations, including 45% who “strongly” oppose it, the poll finds.
Just 28% of Americans support it, with 15% strongly supporting the East Wing being torn down for a ballroom, the poll found. Another 16% say they are not sure.
Support breaks down by party lines, with a 62% majority of Republicans in support and 88% of Democrats opposed. A 61% majority of independents oppose the East Wing tear town and ballroom, with nearly half opposing it strongly, according to the poll.
Opinions are much stronger among Democrats: 78% of Democrats strongly oppose the teardown and ballroom, a much smaller 35% of Republicans strongly support it.
A majority of liberals (76%) and about half of moderates (51%) strongly oppose the East Wing teardown and ballroom, while just about a third of conservatives (34%) support it strongly.
Strong support peaks among strong Trump approvers, with 58% saying they strongly support the teardown of the East Wing and ballroom. Among those who somewhat approve of Trump, just 11% strongly support the plan.
Among strong Trump disapprovers, 82% strongly oppose tearing down the East Wing and building a ballroom, while a much smaller 37% of those who somewhat disapprove of the president strongly oppose the plan.
Just about four in 10 conservative Republicans (42%) say they are strongly in favor of the plan. Conversely, 82% of liberal Democrats and 73% of moderate and conservative Democrats oppose it strongly.
Methodology: This ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll was conducted online via the probability-based Ipsos KnowledgePanel® Oct. 24-28, 2025, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 2,725 U.S. adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.9 percentage points, including the design effect. Error margins are larger for subgroups. The partisan divisions are 28% Democrats, 31% Republicans and 41% independents or something else.
See more details on ABC News’ survey methodology here.
(NEW YORK) — Tuesday night was a far cry from the shell-shocked scenes in Democrats’ election headquarters a year ago this November.
In three key races, for Virginia governor, New Jersey governor and New York City mayor, the party’s nominees drew in huge numbers of the electorate by attacking President Donald Trump and offering plans to tackle what exit polls showed was voters’ top concern: affordability.
The Democratic wins come as Trump and Republicans have seen sinking approval ratings 10 months into his second term.
Here are some of the key takeaways from Tuesday’s election — one year to the 2026 midterms:
Democrats turn the tide The national spotlight was on Abigail Spanberger in Virginia, Mikie Sherrill, in New Jersey and Zohran Mamdani in New York City as the first true tests for the Democrats after the party’s punishing defeat in the 2024 nationwide election.
Tuesday’s results showed the party is on the offensive, with all three candidates projected to score sizable wins over their opponents.
“We sent a message to the whole world that in 2025, Virginia chose pragmatism over partisanship. We chose our commonwealth over chaos,” Spanbrger said.
It’s the economy, again Preliminary exit poll data compiled by ABC News in the three races showed that the majority of Americans were concerned about the cost of living.
Nearly half of Virginia voters said that the economy was the most important issue facing the commonwealth.
In New Jersey, six in 10 voters said that the economy in the state was doing “not so good” or “poor,” while about four in 10 said it was “excellent” or “good.”
More than half of voters in New York City said the cost of living was the most important issue they faced.
Spanberger, Sherrill and Mamdani all campaigned with affordability as the main focus.
Although each candidate has different proposals to lower costs — with Mamdani being the most vocal with raising the tax rate on the wealthiest to pay for services such as child care — voters in huge numbers were attracted to their messages.
Voters are not happy with the state of the country Just as with last year’s elections, where nearly every Democratic led state shifted red, voters appeared to want change from the status quo.
A large majority of voters who said they were angry supported Sherrill, saying they were unhappy with how things were going on in the country. New Jersey has never elected a governor from the same party in three cycles in a row.
Record turnout helps propel Mamdani More than 2 million voters turned out Tuesday in New York City, the first time a mayoral election crossed that threshold since 1969.
Mamdani collected over 1.03 million votes as of 10 p.m. Tuesday, which is larger than the population of five states, according to U.S. Census figures.
The New York turnout mirrored the increased turnout seen during an off-year election.
Historic wins for Muslim candidates Mamdani and Virginia Lt. Gov.-elect Ghazala Hashmi both made history as the first Muslim Americans elected to their respective offices.
Both had faced anti-Islamic attacks from their opponents and critics from around the country.
Wins sends message to Trump Trump got indirectly involved in the three races, especially New York City, as he tried to maintain and grow the GOP’s influence following his win.
The president was particularly tied to the New Jersey race as Republican Jack Ciattarelli vocally embraced and welcomed Trump’s support, despite the president’s low approval ratings.
Sherrill took several opportunities to criticize Trump while looking to tie the president and Ciattarelli tightly together. Mamdani and Spanberger also tied their opponents to Trump’s influence.
Mamdani also addressed Trump directly during his victory speech.
“I have four words for you, turn the volume up,” he mayor-elect said to a roar of supporters’ cheers.
The president reacted angrily to the wins on social media, arguing that the ongoing government shutdown and the fact that he was not on the ballot as the reasons Republicans lost.
