The End Of The Shutdown & Trump In The Epstein Files

Hey, readers — happy Thursday! Today we’re covering Trump info in the Epstein files, the end of the shutdown, corruption in Kyiv, twin explosions in South Asia, the end of the penny, gas station weed, and robo-cars on the freeway. See y’all next week!

“In order to improve the mind, we ought less to learn, than to contemplate.” – Rene Descartes

Trump “Knew About The Girls”

Yesterday, the House Oversight Committee dropped a bombshell on the president. Democrats on the committee released three emails suggesting that President Trump had knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation. In one of the emails, Epstein told Trump biographer Michael Wolff that “of course” Trump “knew about the girls.” In another email, sent to Ghislaine Maxwell (his sex trafficking associate), Epstein stated that one of their victims had “spent hours at my house with” the president. 

Soon after those three emails were made public, the GOP-controlled committee dropped a tranche of over 20,000 documents. Most of those documents were typo-filled emails between Epstein and some of the most powerful people on the planet, with the conversations taking place between 2011 and 2019. Overall, the tranche of documents suggest that Epstein and his associates were keeping close tabs on Trump even after they broke off their friendship in the mid-2000s, and it also seems that the disgraced financier had knowledge of some fishy finance secrets behind Trump’s real estate empire. 

In another Epstein-related twist, House Representative Adelita Grijalva was sworn in yesterday. After winning her race on September 23, Grijalva was forced to wait over 50 days to actually take office, because Speaker Mike Johnson refused to swear her in during the government shutdown. Immediately after being sworn in, Grijalva became the crucial 218th signer of a petition that will force the House to vote on making the Epstein files public. Democrats hope that forcing a vote on releasing the Epstein files will put Republicans in a political bind, as anybody who votes against such a measure could be painted as some sort of Epstein supporter.

The Sun Sets On The Shutdown

The U.S. government shutdown is now set to end after the House of Representatives passed a temporary spending bill last night (222 in favor and 209 against), which Trump quickly signed into law. Thanks to the work of eight Senate Democrats who broke party lines, the funding measure doesn’t include any guarantees that the federal government will extend expiring tax credits that make the Affordable Care Act (ACA) affordable.

In total, the shutdown lasted 43 days, leading to the first-ever freeze of SNAP benefits and flight volume cuts at airports across the country. Over 700,000 federal employees were furloughed over that period, while others were forced to work without pay. The Trump administration also used the shutdown to permanently shrink the federal workforce and close down infrastructure projects in blue states.

Now, Democrats will have to figure out a way to extend the ACA tax credits without a majority in either house of Congress. “This fight is not over. We’re just getting started,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries after the temporary funding bill passed. “Either Republicans finally decide to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits this year, or the American people will throw Republicans out of their jobs next year and end the speakership of Donald J Trump once and for all. That’s how this fight ends.”

Sometimes You Need To Stay Salty To Stay Hydrated

A Corruption Bombshell In Kyiv

• Things are not going well in Ukraine. Russia has been targeting the country’s energy infrastructure, causing nationwide rolling blackouts as temperatures drop, and the country’s leadership has been slammed by a wide-ranging corruption scandal. This week, Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies (which Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly tried to hamstring) arrested 12 individuals linked to a $100 million kickback scheme in the energy sector. Zelenskyy’s justice and energy ministers both resigned yesterday due to the scandal occurring under their leadership.

• The individuals arrested in relation to the scandal include multiple executives from Ukraine’s energy industry and a former advisor to the country’s energy minister. Former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov and Timur Mindich – a close associate of Zelenskyy – have also been implicated in the corruption scheme. Not a good look for Kyiv, especially as Ukrainian officials are asking European leaders for even more money to fund their country’s energy costs.

It’s Heating Up In South Asia

• On Monday, a car exploded in India’s capital city of Delhi, killing eight people and injuring 20 others. The explosion occurred near Delhi’s Red Fort, a historic fortress which once served as the residence of the Mughal emperors. Yesterday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet stated that the government would be treating the explosion as a “terror incident” carried out by “anti-national forces,” without naming any specific groups that might have carried out the attack.

• “The country has witnessed a heinous terror incident, perpetrated by anti-national forces, through a car explosion,” stated the cabinet in a resolution Wednesday. “The cabinet directs that the investigation into the incident be pursued with the utmost urgency and professionalism so that the perpetrators, their collaborators, and their sponsors are identified and brought to justice without delay.” 

• On Tuesday, another explosion occurred in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, killing 12 people and injuring at least 27 others. While it’s not clear that either of the attacks are related at the moment, analysts are worried that India and Pakistan might blame the incidents on each other, ratcheting up tensions in South Asia just months after the two countries were on the brink of war.

Additional World News

• Israel's president says 'shocking' settler violence against Palestinians must end (NPR)

• UK pauses intelligence-sharing with US on suspected drug vessels in Caribbean (Guardian)

• Turkish Military Plane Crashes in Georgia, Killing 20 Troops (NYT, $)

• Peru coach crash: At least 37 killed as bus plunges into ravine (BBC)

• World still on track for catastrophic 2.6C temperature rise, report finds (Guardian)

• Japan’s Prime Minister Faces Backlash Over 3 A.M. Staff Meeting (NYT, $)

Pulling The Plug On The Penny

• Yesterday, the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia pressed its last penny ever. From now on, thanks to an order from President Trump, no new pennies will be added into circulation due to the rising costs of printing the one-cent coin. U.S. pennies have been around since 1793, when they could buy you a candle or a piece of candy. In 2025, though, the coins are virtually useless, and each one costs almost 4 cents to produce.

• “God bless America, and we’re going to save the taxpayers $56 million,” said U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach just before he hit the button to press the last penny ever made. Businesses are now scrambling to figure out how to deal with a sudden shortage of single-cent coins – some are choosing to round prices to the nearest nickel, while others are offering free goodies to customers that bring in pennies. The next coin on the chopping block is probably going to be the nickel – each five-cent coin costs almost 14 cents to make, while dimes cost just six cents each.

The End Of Gas Station Edibles

• Yesterday’s funding bill will end the government shutdown, but deep within its many pages is a hidden secret. Besides providing $26.65 billion to keep the government running for a few more months, the bill also contains a provision that will ban the “unregulated sale of intoxicating hemp-based or hemp-derived products, including delta-8, from being sold online, in gas stations, and corner stores.”

• Delta-8 THC is a currently-unregulated cannabinoid found in hemp that is less intoxicating than delta-9, which is the main psychoactive compound found in cannabis. This new provision will close a loophole in the 2018 Farm Bill that made it legal to sell hemp-derived products pretty much anywhere, as long as they don’t contain more than 0.3% delta-9 THC. 

• “This will ultimately devastate the industry and devastate hemp farmers,” said one hemp advocate. According to the Cannabis Business Times, over $2.7 billion in hemp-derived products were sold in 2023 alone, and the new measure could destroy up to 95% of those sales. But should we really be able to pick up edibles from a gas station in the first place?

Additional USA News

• The 9 most shocking revelations in the Epstein docs (Politico)

• Fifty-year mortgages and $2,000 cheques: What's behind Trump's affordability drive? (BBC) 

• Gavin Newsom’s Former Chief of Staff Arrested and Charged With Corruption (NYT, $)

• How Trump Has Exploited Pardons and Clemency to Reward Allies and Supporters (ProPublica)

• U.S. bishops officially ban gender-affirming care at Catholic hospitals (NPR) 

• US aircraft carrier group arrives near Latin America (BBC) 

Make Way For The Robots (On The Freeway)

• Self-driving cars are making the leap to the big leagues. On Tuesday, Google’s self-driving car project – named Waymo – announced that its vehicles will soon be allowed to drive on freeways. The robo-cars currently only operate on city streets, but will soon expand their range to a select few freeways in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. 

• “Freeway driving is one of those things that’s very easy to learn, but very hard to master,” Waymo co-CEO Dmitri Dolgov said last week. While traffic is generally less chaotic on a freeway, there are fewer accidents for the robocars to learn from, and those accidents also occur at freeway speeds, making them more deadly. To make up for a lack of real-world accident testing, Waymo used simulated and closed-course driving to simulate training data for their cars.

• In the Bay, the expanded service means riders will be able to catch a Waymo from the SFO or SJC airports directly into downtown San Francisco or San Jose. Waymo also offers rides to and from Phoenix’s PHX airport, but the self-driving cars have been spared from ferrying riders in and out of the hellhole that is LAX. 

Additional Reads

• '$230 for a cut-up sock' - Apple's new iPhone Pocket ridiculed online (BBC) 

• Worth a shout? Yelling is best way to deter gulls, UK study suggests (Guardian)

• The magic of the world's rarest blood type (BBC)

• All of My Employees Are AI Agents, and So Are My Executives (Wired, $)

• UN climate talks are getting weird (Verge)

• Bill Gates Said the Quiet Part Out Loud (Atlantic, $)

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Penny (RIP) For Your Thoughts

Speaking of nickels being the next coin to get axed, here’s a story about a guy who’s stockpiled $250,000 in nickels as a hedge against inflation.

Editor & Writer: Marcus Gee-Lim

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