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Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin speaks out on Epstein files, shutdown and gerrymandering

By Zsana Hoskins

Newly-released emails from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate are stirring political tensions in D.C. Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin spoke with WTOP about the emails, fallout from the federal shutdown and the political stakes ahead.

The email messages, disclosed by the House Oversight Committee, suggest a closer relationship between Epstein and President Donald Trump than previously acknowledged — including one email in which Epstein wrote that Trump “knew about the girls,” though it remains unclear what he meant.

The White House has reiterated that the president did nothing wrong and has said his association with Epstein ended in the 2000s.

On Friday afternoon, Trump further escalated the controversy by directing the Justice Department to investigate several Democrats that he alleges had ties to Epstein, including former President Bill Clinton.

“They (the newly released emails) confirm what I think most Americans have suspected, which is that Donald Trump indeed knew what was going on with the girls … But in any event, what we’re looking for here is a complete release of the file,” Raskin said. 

At the same time, lawmakers are dealing with the fallout from the 43-day government shutdown that ended this week, sending hundreds of thousands of federal workers back to their jobs.

Congress approved a short-term sending bill to keep the government open through the end of January, but the temporary deal leaves the possibility of another shutdown looming if no long-term agreement is reached.

Discussing the government shutdown, Raskin said lawmakers had been fighting to protect health care, federal workers and SNAP benefits.

“There was a trillion-dollar cut to Medicaid at the same time there was a trillion-dollar tax break given to the wealthiest people in the country … and we did not get everything we wanted. And we’re going to keep fighting to make sure that the health care of the people is addressed,” he said.

Raskin criticized a clause in the spending bill that provides a small group of senators with multi-million-dollar payouts related to grand jury subpoenas. He noted that the policy differs from how ordinary citizens are treated under the law.

“Let’s change public policy, but to say it’s completely fine for everybody else, but 100 U.S. senators have a right not to be investigated in that way … That’s just an outrage and a scandal,” he said.

Lastly, Raskin emphasized the need to counter partisan gerrymandering in Maryland. He spoke about similar efforts in other states and highlighted the impact on minority and LGBTQ representation.

“My point to Maryland, like to every other state, was we cannot allow this steam roller to go on without fighting back … I think Maryland, like Virginia, should be part of the process of countering this outrageous power grab,” Raskin said.

Trump overturned decades of US trade policy in 2025. See the impact of his tariffs, in four charts

By The Associated Press
Since returning to the White House in January, President Donald Trump has overturned decades of U.S. trade policy — building a wall of tariffs around what used to be a wide open economy. His double-digit taxes on imports from almost every country have disrupted global commerce and strained the budgets of consumers and businesses worldwide. They have also raised tens of billions of dollars for the U.S. Treasury. Trump has argued that his steep new import taxes are necessary to bring back wealth that was “stolen” from the U.S. He says they will narrow America's decades-old trade deficit and bring manufacturing back to the country. But upending the global supply chain has proven costly for households facing rising prices. The taxes are paid by importers who typically attempt to pass along the higher costs to their customers. That includes businesses and ultimately, U.S. households. And the erratic way the president rolled out his tariffs — announcing them, then suspending or altering them before conjuring up new ones — made 2025 one of the most turbulent economic years in recent memory.
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