Donald Trump has brought the longest government shutdown in American history to a close, authorising a funding bill that restores federal operations after a 43-day stalemate between Republicans and Democrats.
The End of Record-Breaking Closure
The US President put his signature on the spending legislation in the Oval Office shortly after it cleared the House of Representatives last night. The 43-day shutdown paralysed government functions, grounding thousands of flights and disrupting airport security as federal employees, including air traffic controllers, went without pay.
Following the signing ceremony, Trump described it as "a great day" while acknowledging that "people were hurt so badly" during the closure. He confirmed that normal government operations would now resume across affected departments.
Epstein Email Release Coincides With Shutdown Resolution
The resolution of the political impasse occurred against a dramatic backdrop, with a new dossier of emails concerning Jeffrey Epstein being released just hours before the bill signing. The correspondence appears to detail the late financier's alleged relationships with both Trump and Andrew Windsor.
One particularly damning email seems to show Epstein stating 'of course [Trump] knew about the girls,' while another suggests the former president 'spent hours' with a sex trafficking victim at Epstein's mansion. Additional correspondence from 2011 claims Trump spent "hours at my house," with Epstein telling Ghislaine Maxwell: "I want you to realise that that dog that hasn't barked is Trump."
White House Response and Political Fallout
The President avoided addressing the email revelations directly by not taking questions from journalists during the Oval Office ceremony. However, he had previously taken to Truth Social to label the email release as the 'Jeffrey Epstein hoax' orchestrated by Democrats.
In a social media post, Trump asserted: "The Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again because they'll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they've done on the Shutdown, and so many other subjects. Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap."
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt subsequently issued a statement denying any wrongdoing, describing the email release as "selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative to smear President Trump."
Leavitt emphasised that Virginia Giuffre, the "unnamed victim" referenced in the correspondence, had repeatedly stated Trump "was not involved in any wrongdoing whatsoever" and described him as "couldn't have been friendlier" during their limited interactions.
The press secretary also noted that Trump had banned Epstein from his club decades ago for inappropriate behaviour toward female staff members, including Giuffre. She characterised the story as a "bad-faith effort to distract from President Trump's historic accomplishments" in resolving the shutdown.
The newly released correspondence also sheds additional light on the relationship between Epstein and former Prince Andrew, with one email showing Andrew apparently pleading with Maxwell to deny knowledge of Epstein's activities, stating: "I can't take any more of this."
As federal workers return to their posts and government services resume, the political landscape remains charged, with the shadow of the Epstein allegations continuing to loom over the administration's achievement in ending the record-breaking shutdown.
