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The Epstein scandal is taking down Europe’s political class. In the US, they’re getting a pass.

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Across the Atlantic, heads are rolling over the Jeffrey Epstein revelations.

In Norway, one prominent diplomat has already been suspended and a police investigation has been opened into a former prime minister. In the U.K., the former ambassador to the U.S. has been fired; on Tuesday, he resigned from the House of Lords. Police are reviewing reports he shared market-sensitive information with Epstein.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, was stripped of his royal titles and residence. A charity founded by his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, the former Duchess of York, will shut down indefinitely following the release of emails where she called Epstein a “legend” and “the brother I have always wished for.”

But as Europe’s political class moves to clean up its mess and address its shame concerning ties with the convicted sex offender, it’s inadvertently highlighting something else — the comparative lack of accountability in the U.S.

No prominent politicians have taken a fall. Consequences have been limited. Wagons have been circled around the most prominent political figures whose names have surfaced in the legal document dumps.

In the U.K., former ambassador to the U.S. Peter Mandelson — who has said he was wrong to believe Epstein following his conviction and to continue his association with him afterwards — has emerged as a millstone around British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s neck. While Starmer never actually met Epstein, some are calling for his resignation over his appointment of Mandelson. The prime minister publicly apologized Thursday to Epstein’s victims.

“I am sorry,” Starmer said. “Sorry for what was done to you, sorry that so many people with power failed you, sorry for having believed Mandelson’s lies and appointed him and sorry that even now you’re forced to watch this story unfold in public once again.”

It’s a different story in the U.S. Donald Trump’s Republican Party has largely averted its eyes or rallied to the president’s defense despite his documented ties to Epstein and the unverified additional allegations against the president that appeared last week.

Trump has denied wrongdoing in relation to the Epstein allegations, and no evidence has suggested that he took part in Epstein’s trafficking operation. The president also has maintained that he and Epstein had a falling out years ago.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick remains unscathed in his Cabinet post. Lutnick said on a podcast last year that he was so disgusted by his neighbor Epstein in 2005 that he vowed to never be in the same room with him again. But when the Justice Department released more than three million pages of materials related to the late American financier last Friday, emails surfaced suggesting a closer relationship and that Lutnick had actually seen Epstein some years later on a trip to Epstein’s Caribbean island. A spokesperson said the Commerce secretary “had limited interactions with Mr. Epstein in the presence of his wife and has never been accused of wrongdoing.” So far, there are no signs it affected his standing in the Trump Cabinet.

Likewise, Goldman Sachs and its CEO David Solomon have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the company’s general counsel Kathryn Ruemmler as she’s faced brutal headlines for months for her associations with Epstein, which include gifts of a $9,400 Hermes bag and a spa treatment at the Four Seasons Hotel in D.C. Solomon told the Wall Street Journal several weeks ago that Ruemmler, a former White House counsel to Barack Obama, “is widely respected and admired at the firm.”

Ruemmler has said she regrets “ever knowing him, and I have enormous sympathy for the victims of Epstein’s crimes.”

Even Dr. Peter Attia, the author and influential longevity researcher who is a contributor to CBS News, remains on the job despite his appearance in numerous emails with Epstein, where they discussed female genitalia and how Epstein’s life was “so outrageous.” In an email that he posted on X, Attia apologized and said he was not involved in any criminal activity, his interactions with Epstein had nothing to do with his sexual abuse or exploitation of anyone and that he was never on his plane or island, and never present at any sex parties.

Some see the relatively limited fallout — in a public arena where infidelity or even smoking marijuana were once enough to sink a career — as a reflection of the diminished standards of the Trump era, when the president’s own indiscretions and extreme polarization has led to a greater tolerance of the scent of scandal. They point to the Cabinet nominations of former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, both of whom would have been unthinkable in the past given allegations about their involvement in sex crimes that both men have denied.

“Some of that has to do with the general chaos on this side of the pond where it’s a never ending stream of scandal emanating from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and Trump has set a tone of defiance on refusal to accept and feel any shame,” said Norm Eisen, a former U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic who is now a top Trump critic and the founder of Democracy Defenders Action, a bipartisan group that tracks what it calls “autocratic” behavior by the administration. “Those who should feel shame are hunkering down instead.”

It’s true that several American figures linked to Epstein have been forced to step away from public life. They include former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who has said he is “deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused,” and Paul Weiss chairman Brad Karp, who resigned as the law firm’s chair on Wednesday saying it’s in the best interest of the firm. David Ross, former director of the Whitney Museum of American Art, stepped down this week from his position at a Manhattan art school and said in a statement that he felt ashamed for falling for Epstein’s lies. But for many of the best-known elites who were in contact with the late convicted sex offender — including former Trump aide Steve Bannon and billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk — the only consequence has been the reputational hit.

“What matters is not release of some subset of the Epstein files, but rather the prosecution of those who committed heinous crimes with Epstein,” Musk wrote on X. “When there is at least one arrest, some justice will have been done. If not, this is all performative. Nothing but a distraction.”

Bannon has said little publicly about their relationship, but he did previously call for an independent investigation into the files.

Bannon, a frequent visitor to Epstein’s New York house, was planning a documentary to help revive Epstein’s image and even was texting documentary scheduling questions with Epstein the day he was arrested in 2019. Even so, there are few outward signs that the scandal has touched him: Bannon still does his “War Room” show on Rumble and his political musings are widely covered in the press.

It’s an approach in keeping with Trump’s own never-concede-an-inch style.

“We as Americans need to be looking at ourselves in the mirror. Why are we not having that same reaction [as Europe]?” said Rufus Gifford, a former Obama-appointed ambassador to Denmark. “Without a doubt how Trump has acted has filtered down to broader society. But I think the question that we have to ask is whether or not this existed before Trump, and Trump is just a symptom of that larger problem.”

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Republicans hold their breath and hope for a quick Trump endorsement in Texas

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President Donald Trump is signaling he will soon endorse someone in the Texas primary. Key Republican players are scrambling to make the case for incumbent John Cornyn — and hoping Trump acts fast.

“I hope it’s going to be soon,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Wednesday, just hours after making his latest plea on Cornyn’s behalf to the president.

At stake is $100 million or more in Republican donor money that many in D.C. party circles believe could be burned in the 12-week runoff showdown with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who finished closely behind Cornyn in Tuesday’s GOP primary.

Beyond the money that stands to be incinerated, party operatives fear the scorched-earth campaign will give a further leg up to Democratic candidate James Talarico, the state lawmaker who won his party’s primary outright Tuesday.

In a lengthy Truth Social post Wednesday, Trump spelled out that he was mindful of a costly internecine fight.

“I will be making my Endorsement soon,” he wrote, as he called on the candidate he doesn’t endorse to “DROP OUT OF THE RACE,” stressing that Republicans must “TOTALLY FOCUS” on beating the “Radical Left Opponent.”

Cornyn’s Senate colleagues delivered a succession of public and private entreaties to the president throughout the day Wednesday.

Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) said in an exclusive interview for Blue Light News’s “The Conversation” that Cornyn was “without a doubt the candidate to win in November.” The episode is set for publication Friday.

“There’s nothing more powerful than President Trump’s endorsement,” Britt added, speaking before she traveled to the White House for a roundtable event with Trump.

Multiple Republicans delivered a similar message directly to Trump, according to three people granted anonymity to describe the private conversations — sharing their concerns that a Senate seat that has been in GOP hands since 1961 could be at risk of flipping in November if the scandal-dogged Paxton is the top of the ticket.

Senate Republicans were told during their closed-door lunch Wednesday that Trump will soon endorse in the race, two attendees said, but not whom the president will back.

But there was a palpable sense of hope among some of Cornyn’s allies Wednesday, who believe that things are aligning in the incumbent’s favor as he appears on track to win a plurality in Tuesday’s voting.

As of Wednesday evening Cornyn led Paxton by about 25,000 votes with more than 95 percent of ballots counted, according to the Associated Press. That represented an overperformance, some Cornyn allies argued, given that several pre-election polls had him soundly trailing Paxton.

A Cornyn campaign aide said there is “new momentum” and “new support coming” after Tuesday’s results.

“The case got stronger because of last night — that’s undeniable,” the aide said about Trump endorsing Cornyn. “There certainly are lots of conversations happening, lots of people who are seeing the bigger picture.”

Arriving in the Senate Wednesday evening, Cornyn declined to answer questions about the possibility of an endorsement — or anything else — as his colleagues warmly welcomed him back to Washington.

“Big John,” said No. 2 Senate GOP leader John Barrasso of Wyoming, greeting Cornyn as he rushed into the Capitol after a flight from Texas.

Several former Trump campaign aides are now associated with Cornyn’s campaign and are thought to be lobbying on his behalf. But Trump has long been personally fond of Paxton, a MAGA firebrand who eagerly joined his effort to overturn the 2020 presidential contest that elected Joe Biden.

A Republican close to the Paxton campaign, granted anonymity to speak candidly before Trump sent his Truth Social message, said Trump “knows that the base despises Cornyn” and would not risk alienating them by endorsing the sitting senator.

“He knows Cornyn is a squish and RINO,” he said. “But he’s got to make a pragmatic decision. It just kind of depends on what folks are telling him.”

Hopes for a quick endorsement for Cornyn could be on hold as the final votes are counted and his lead over Paxton is confirmed.

“Any president would prefer to be positioned with the winning campaign,” said one GOP donor, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the endorsement dynamics.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment on when the president will endorse and which candidate.

Talarico clinching the nomination while two well-financed Republicans beat each other up is exactly the scenario Washington Republicans were hoping to avoid ahead of Tuesday’s election. Internal polling released earlier this month by the Senate GOP’s campaign arm showed Paxton would lose the general election to Talarico by 3 points while Cornyn could beat him by 3 points.

The Republican close to the Paxton campaign said the attorney general is well positioned to win a runoff given that the primary electorate tends to be more conservative — and that Talarico is more beatable than Washington Republicans believe, given his past comments on transgender rights and his liberal view of the Bible. The person said Paxton’s data modeling showed a Cornyn plurality “was a possibility.”

“I guess it’s fair to say he was a little bit stronger than expected, but again it wasn’t too far up from our data,” the person said.

Still, the strong showing gave Cornyn’s colleagues a prime opportunity to argue that it was time to bring the rivalry to an end.

“John Cornyn is the best bet to win the November election,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a close Trump ally known to have the president’s ear.

Barrasso added that he, too, would encourage Trump to back his Texas colleague, adding that it’s “critically important for John Cornyn to be the nominee.”

“We need to hold that seat which means we need to nominate someone who is going to win in November,” Barrasso added. “The person that will win in November is John Cornyn.”

Dasha Burns and Adam Wren contributed to this report.

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Tim Walz accuses the Trump administration of singling out Minnesota amid fraud allegations, immigration crackdown

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