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Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: The Jeffrey Epstein story just gets louder [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-09-10

The Japan News:

Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday made public a birthday letter Donald Trump allegedly wrote to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein more than 20 years ago, though the White House quickly denied its authenticity. The letter, the existence of which was reported by the Wall Street Journal in July, appears to have been signed by Trump, but he has denied doing so and has said it does not exist. Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released the letter after Congress received the 2003 “birthday book” from Epstein’s lawyers. The letter is dated three years before allegations of sex abuse by Epstein became public in 2006.

Worldwide interest.

x ABBY PHILLIPS: "The deputy attorney general met with Ghislaine and she shortly there after moved to a mininum security prison, why?



PRO TRUMP ATTORNEY WHO REPRESENTED MAXWELL:



stumbles uhh... "there's always a quid pro quo." pic.twitter.com/pt1etCca3d — Will Ragland (@citizenwillis) September 9, 2025

When you have your own vertical...

x NYT front page suggesting Epstein story is not over

[and getting louder] pic.twitter.com/mvHHEhZ1K2 — Greg Dworkin (@DemFromCT) September 9, 2025

New York Times:

How JPMorgan Enabled the Crimes of Jeffrey Epstein A Times investigation found that America’s leading bank spent years supporting — and profiting from — the notorious sex offender, ignoring red flags, suspicious activity and concerned executives. Now Stephen Cutler, a former federal securities regulator and the bank’s general counsel, had added his voice to the chorus. Epstein’s chief defender at the bank was Jes Staley, a top contender to one day succeed Dimon as chief executive. Staley persuaded Cutler to sit down with Epstein and “hear him out.” It was a high-stakes meeting for Epstein; his close ties to JPMorgan had been invaluable in his quest for money, influence and legitimacy. The bank lent him money. Staley dished confidential information to him. At Epstein’s behest, JPMorgan set up accounts — into which he routinely transferred huge sums — for young women who turned out to be victims of his sex-trafficking operations. It wired his funds overseas. It even paid him millions of dollars.

x This aged nicely. pic.twitter.com/JoynPazM5n — Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) September 8, 2025

New York Times:

Immigration Raid Exposes Tensions From Seoul to Washington to Rural Georgia The raid at a Georgia plant being built with heavy investment from South Korea reveals strain as a rush to expand manufacturing in the United States clashes with an immigration crackdown. The raids, described by government officials as the largest Homeland Security enforcement operation at a single site, have exposed growing strain that reaches from Seoul to Washington and even a small, unincorporated community like Ellabell, Ga., where the plant is being built.

A bad idea has many ramifications. OTOH, The American Prospect:

Following ICE Raid in Georgia, Concerns Raised About Human Trafficking at Hyundai ICE carries out largest immigration raid of Trump’s second term, and most of the workers were not supposed to be conducting manual labor, according to their visa status. ICE is claiming that Hyundai broke federal labor laws by forcing Korean workers to work in dangerous conditions, resulting in the death of at least one migrant Korean worker. According to the Korean news service Donga , a majority of the workers arrested were working in the United States on ESTA visas. ETSA allows foreign workers who are performing instruction or teaching workshops to work in the United States. Under the terms of ESTA, foreign workers are not allowed to perform manual labor. However, most of the 300 Korean workers arrested at the plant were performing dangerous, hard manual labor.

x NEW @VCU Virginia poll—>



Gov

Spanberger: 49%

Earle-Sears: 40%



Lt. Gov

Hashmi: 45%

Reid: 41%



AG

Jones: 47%

Miyares: 41%



*down ballot, particularly LG is much more narrow than top of the ticket #vapol #vagov — Julia Manchester (@JuliaManch) September 9, 2025

Washington Post:

Walkinshaw leading Whitson in Virginia’s 11th Congressional District special election “If there’s a really strong Democratic turnout beyond expectations and the margins vastly exceed even the 2-to-1 margins that Connolly achieved in his latest cycles, I think that would be very, very telling,” said Mark J. Rozell, dean of George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government

x Final result in VA-11 w just few mail and provisional left



Dem over-performance continues as this was 65%-31% Harris in 2024



Fairfax hit hard by DOGE



So could also be sign of increased Dem enthusiasm



Tea leaves for November?



Virginia could revert back to Trump 1.0 blueness pic.twitter.com/uPf0lRGDwf — Sam Shirazi (@samshirazim) September 10, 2025

Washington Post:

Virginia governor’s race hits high gear as referendum on Trump Democrat Spanberger enjoys polling and financial advantage, while Republican Earle-Sears is diving deep into her party’s playbook of vilifying liberal transgender policies. Spanberger, a former congresswoman and CIA operative from the Richmond area, is hammering Earle-Sears for supporting policies of President Donald Trump that she says have harmed Virginia’s economy, cost people their jobs and threatened access to health care and social programs. “Winsome Earle-Sears is so far right, she’s wrong for Virginia,” a new Spanberger ad says, juxtaposing clips of Earle-Sears praising Trump’s unpopular domestic-policy legislation, the One Big Beautiful Bill, with claims that it raises costs for Virginians.

x Silicon Valley already betting on a Democrat Congress within 14 months. pic.twitter.com/xTk7i7Jscw — Spencer Hakimian (@SpencerHakimian) September 9, 2025

Greg Sargent/TNR:

Trump Is a Weak and Failing President, and It’s Time to Say So It’s possible for Trump to be an inept buffoon—but still extremely dangerous. And it shouldn’t be so hard to make that case. All this suggests that Democrats have a fresh opening to undermine the foundation of Trump’s political strength by portraying him as a politically weak, failing, diminished, naked-emperor figure—and some new internal polling conducted by Senate Democrats hints at why. The polling—conducted for the Senate Majority PAC and provided to The New Republic—probes voter attitudes toward Trump, his tariffs, and the economy. It finds that 56 percent of likely 2026 midterm voters nationally say Trump’s tariffs are hurting the economy overall, with 44 percent saying they’re hurting a lot. Only 32 percent say they’re helping. Among swing voters—defined as voters who switched in either direction from 2020 to 2024—57 percent say they’re hurting. What’s more, the poll finds that 48 percent of overall likely 2026 voters say Trump’s tariffs are hurting their own economic situation, versus only 29 percent who say they’re not having any effect and an abysmal 8 percent who say the tariffs are helping their economic prospects.

x i know we are used to Republicans lying but this stuff is really next level https://t.co/svrPwMjPnI — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 9, 2025

G Elliott Morris/Strength in Numbers:

How Democrats can beat Trump on the economy The president is weak on jobs and inflation, which Democrats can use to restore their working-class image Two links caught my attention on Sunday night/Monday morning: First, this ad from Michigan state Senator Mallory McMorrow, which aired during the first Sunday football games of the season.

This article from The New Republic's Greg Sargent is about recent polling on Donald Trump's tariffs (they're underwater — not a surprise, but notable). The ad is worth watching. McMorrow makes what is becoming an increasingly popular pitch from Democrats on affordability, and adds the common line from progressives that corporate billionaires are rigging the economy against the middle class. And Sargent shares data showing Trump is failing on exactly this issue. This is not the type of ad you can imagine Democrats running successfully in 2024, but now they’re everywhere. This inspired two big thoughts. The first is about the inevitable coming around of Democratic consultants to the arguments I've been making in this newsletter about inflation and incumbency since circa ~March. The second is a more serious line of thinking about how Democrats can defeat Trump next year, and Trumpism in the years to come. The collapse of the Republicans' lead on the economy is central to the opposition’s success.

x Trump is in danger of getting trapped in the same "vibecession"dynamic that doomed Biden — only this time, the structural signals are flashing red and Trump's signature legislation is toxic. https://t.co/cf14RHgxp9 — Axios (@axios) September 5, 2025

Cliff Schecter/BlueAmp:

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