| Inflation rose last month to its highest levels since President Donald Trump began his second term. Yet, Trump’s focus this week was on battling the right’s attention on Jeffrey Epstein. He also floated firing the chair of the Federal Reserve and found a new way to detain large numbers of migrants. And a new poll finds that his policies — including the economy and immigration — are unpopular with a majority of Americans. Here’s what happened this week under the Trump administration. Trump tells the right to drop Epstein Trump spent a significant amount of time this week telling his supporters to back off digging into Epstein, the dead financier who was charged with trafficking teenage girls. But instead, it escalated. The Wall Street Journal reported late Thursday that Trump contributed a nude drawing of a woman for a 50th birthday album for Epstein, writing: “Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.” Trump denied doing so, blamed Democrats for what he called a “hoax,” lashed out at his supporters (they are “PAST supporters” and “weaklings” who bought it, “hook, line, and sinker”) and said he was suing the Wall Street Journal. Trump partied with Epstein in the 2000s, though there’s no public evidence of any wrongdoing on Trump’s part. But some Republicans in Congress are pushing for a vote demanding the Justice Department release whatever files it has on Epstein. Other supporters want Trump to name a special counsel to look into whether the Trump administration lied about what information it has on Epstein or is covering something up. Even House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), a loyal Trump ally, broke with the president and called for the release of files. By the end of the week, Trump said the Justice Department should release “grand jury testimony” about Epstein, but it’s not exactly clear what that means or if it can be released. Polls show that most Americans — including large shares of Republicans — believe that the government is keeping information from them about this. A well known federal prosecutor who worked on Epstein is fired Prosecutor Maureen Comey worked on the criminal cases of Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell. She is also the daughter of former FBI director James B. Comey, whom Trump fired in his first term. It’s not immediately clear why she was fired, The Washington Post’s Perry Stein, Shayna Jacobs and Jeremy Roebuck report. Maureen Comey wrote a memo to her colleagues hinting that her firing may have been politically motivated. “If a career prosecutor can be fired without reason, fear may seep into the decisions of those who remain. Do not let that happen. Fear is the tool of a tyrant, wielded to suppress independent thought. Instead of fear, let this moment fuel the fire that already burns at the heart of this place,” she wrote. “A fire of righteous indignation at abuses of power. Of commitment to seek justice for victims. Of dedication to truth above all else.” Trump ramps up talk of firing the head of the Federal Reserve Trump floated this idea to Republicans in Congress. Jerome H. Powell leads the nation’s central bank, which operates independently of political influence. Yet Trump wants Powell to lower interest rates to help the economy — something the Fed has been unwilling to do as it watches inflation rise and prices go up as Trump’s tariffs settle in. The president probably can’t legally fire the Federal Reserve chair except in extreme cases, and even some Republican lawmakers thought firing Powell would be a mistake, saying it would create turmoil in the financial markets. “The markets expect an independent, central bank,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota) said. “And if they thought for a minute that he wasn’t independent, it would cast a spell over the forecasts and the integrity of the decisions being made by the bank.” Supreme Court clears way for vast Education Department layoffs Teachers and school districts who sued the administration said his move would strip the department “down to the plywood.” Lower courts stopped him, since Congress is the branch of government that funds federal agencies. But this week, the Supreme Court said Trump could drastically shrink the federal agency while the longer legal battle plays out. It will mean that schools across the country could lose federal funds for high-poverty programs, as well as aid for students with disabilities. It also could mean that the government may no longer oversee federal student loans, The Post reports. The ruling is part of a trend for the conservative Supreme Court — expanding Trump’s power over federal spending without giving a reason. The court’s three liberal justices said the ruling was “indefensible.” “We are in a moment where not just the executive branch but the Supreme Court is a threat to the rule of law,” Kimberly Wehle, a professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law and author of the newsletter “Simple Politics,” said in a recent Brennan Center briefing with reporters, before this Supreme Court ruling. “I think the Supreme Court is becoming just as dangerous as the Trump administration.” Trump launches a new, aggressive deportation strategy His administration is trying to detain millions of immigrants who are living in the country as they fight deportation proceedings. The Post’s Maria Sacchetti and Carol D. Leonnig report that the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement recently declared that migrants are no longer eligible for a bond hearing after they are arrested for potential deportation. It could mean millions of longtime residents are held by the government for months or years while they fight their cases, rather than being released on bond. The White House has given ICE agents quotas to meet, and David Bier, director of immigration studies at the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute, sees this new detention policy as a way to hit those, regardless of the potential collateral damage. “Their tactics right now are almost designed to result in people being wrongfully detained,” he said. | 
