Congress
House Oversight interviews Epstein prison guard
Tova Noel, the prison guard on duty the night of Jeffrey Epstein’s death, is the latest witness to give testimony as part of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s investigation into the late convicted sex offender.
The circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death have dramatically fueled conspiracy theories around the case, despite the fact that the Justice Department determined that Epstein died by suicide behind bars.
Noel, who appeared for a closed-door interview Monday with the committee, has said she believes she was the last person to see Epstein alive.
“Jeffrey Epstein got special treatment in that facility,” Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.) said Monday. “He got access to medications in a way no one else did. He got access to extra bed linens, which helped him commit suicide. He got access to a CPAP machine, which had a long cord. And so Jeffrey Epstein — just like Ghislaine Maxwell, right now — was given special treatment in incarceration.“
Maxwell, the only co-conspirator in Epstein’s schemes to be convicted, was transferred to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas after she sat for questioning with then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche — a move that was highly criticized.
Few lawmakers on the Oversight panel attended the transcribed interview with Noel, as there are no votes scheduled in the House until Wednesday. Committee chair James Comer (R-Ky.) was unable to participate due to family obligations back home, according to a committee spokesperson.
Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.), who attended part of the interview Monday, blamed the poor attendance on the “chaotic majority” and “the constant changing of the schedule.”
She added that she believed Noel had been forthcoming with the panel.
Noel and a co-worker were previously charged with falsifying records at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in what the DOJ called an effort to hide the fact that they were not performing their jobs. The charges were ultimately dropped after the two abided by the terms of a deferred prosecution agreement.
A spokesperson for Noel did not return a request for comment.
Congress
House GOP leaders plan housing bill vote despite Trump ultimatum
House Republican leaders are forging ahead on a bipartisan housing affordability bill Wednesday — without the partisan elections bill President Donald Trump demanded to be attached over the weekend.
Four people granted anonymity to describe internal deliberations said there are no plans to add in the SAVE America Act as Trump demanded on Truth Social — a version of which the House passed in February.
“We’ve already passed it,” one senior House GOP aide said, calling passage of the elections bill a Senate issue.
The episode underscores how President Donald Trump is wielding immense sway over his party by torpedoing the reelection bids of some Republicans who have defied him in recent years — most recently, Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, whose bid for renomination failed Saturday.
But on Capitol Hill, Trump has repeatedly failed to force GOP leaders to heed some of his biggest policy demands — particularly in forcing them to add the SAVE America Act, which would tougher proof-of-citizenship requirements for voting, to must-pass bipartisan bills.
Trump has demanded action on the bill since at least March, when he told House Republicans at their policy retreat that “I don’t think we should approve anything until this is approved.”
He said in his Saturday post that “THE SAVE AMERICA ACT MUST BE PASSED, NOW” using “the Housing and FISA Bills to get it done!” The latter reference is to a must-pass reauthorization of federal surveillance powers that expire next month.
Adding the legislation to any must-pass bill would represent a “poison pill” for Democrats, who are blocking the elections bill from proceeding in the Senate. Trump has also asked GOP leaders there to overturn the 60-vote filibuster rule to pass it, but a critical mass of Republicans opposes that move.
“It cannot pass here. It will not pass here,” a Senate GOP aide said.
The housing bill is expected to move through the House under special fast-track procedures that will require a significant number of Democratic votes to pass.
Congress
New reconciliation text
Senate Democrats have received redrafted text from Republicans of their party-line immigration enforcement bill, according to a person granted anonymity to describe behind-the-scenes developments. The revised text given to Democrats does not include a controversial Secret Service provision that could fund parts of a new White House ballroom because Republicans are still updating that language.
The revision comes after Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled that some provisions of the GOP bill would not quality for the party-line budget reconciliation process, forcing Republicans back to the drawing board in their bid to avoid a Democratic filibuster.
Congress
Capitol agenda: Inside the scramble to notch bipartisan wins
Expect lots of attention this week on the GOP immigration enforcement bill and whether White House ballroom security funding can be included — we’ve got plenty on that political drama below.
Meanwhile, there’s a quiet scramble underway to get bipartisan legislating done this week before the midterms loom too large — if President Donald Trump doesn’t screw it up.
Before next week’s Memorial Day recess, GOP lawmakers will try to pass bipartisan measures on affordable housing and college athletics regulation.
Legislation with Republican and Democratic backers regulating cryptocurrencies, overhauling the energy permitting process, governing AI use, boosting U.S. manufacturing and reauthorizing a landmark public lands package are also in the works for the coming months.
Interviews with more than a dozen lawmakers revealed a genuine interest in making progress on long-stalled measures in the few short months before the home stretch of midterm campaigning begins. Members of both parties also see passing legislation as critical to combating a narrative with voters that Capitol Hill is mired in all-time political dysfunction and a lack of productivity.
Strikingly, some of the most reliably conservative members are sounding downright conciliatory: Both Rep. Jason Smith of House Ways and Means and Sen. Mike Lee of Senate Energy and Natural Resources say they want to make progress on cryptocurrency taxation and permitting deals.
“I believe in bipartisan work,” Sen. Raphael Warnock said. “But it has been my experience that the closer you get to an election, the harder it is to get that kind of work done. There’s no question about it.”
Still, over the weekend, Trump doused the prospects for bipartisan passage of two measures — the housing bill and a measure reauthorizing government spy powers — when he demanded his signature election security bill ride along.
The SAVE America Act would institute new voter ID and proof-of-citizenship requirements for federal elections while also banning transgender women from participating in women’s sports, among other provisions.
Combining either bipartisan bill with the SAVE Act, which Trump has called his “No. 1 priority” ahead of the midterms, would almost certainly jeopardize the broader legislations’ chances of getting through Congress.
What else we’re watching:
— GOP RACES TO RE-WRITE TRUMP BALLROOM FUNDING: The GOP’s own reconciliation bill — which Republican leaders in both chambers will try to ram through this week — may also undermine the bipartisan vibes on Capitol Hill. The Senate Budget panel will meet Wednesday morning to assemble the bill in advance of a marathon vote session potentially stretching from Thursday into early Friday morning. The House would then attempt to take up the legislation for final passage Friday. Over the weekend, the Senate’s parliamentarian handed Democrats a win when she ruled against another Trump priority tucked in the bill to fund up to $1 billion for White House ballroom security and other Secret Service measures
— SCORE ACT HURDLES AHEAD — House Republican leaders might have trouble passing a long-stalled college athletics bill, which is expected to be on the floor during the later part of the week. A handful of Republican hard-liners were noncommittal Friday on whether they would support the procedural rule vote for the bipartisan bill, which addresses name, image and likeness rights for student athletes, among other provisions. The bill, known as the SCORE Act, was already pulled from a scheduled floor vote at the end of last year amid a hard-liner revolt on various aspects of the measure.
Jordain Carney and Mia McCarthy contributed to this report.
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