Trump signs shutdown deal; New Epstein emails shake Washington
After 43 days, the longest government shutdown in U.S. history is finally over. President Donald Trump signed the deal late last night after a narrow vote in the House. So what happens now?
Plus, a trove of more than 20,000 emails from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate was released by House lawmakers, some mentioning Trump. Now, a bipartisan push to release all Epstein-related government files.
And a rare geomagnetic storm turned night into a display of colors across much of the U.S., with the Northern Lights visible as far south as Atlanta.
These stories and more highlight your Unbiased Updates for Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025.
Trump signs bill to end record-long government shutdown
After 43 days, the longest government shutdown in U.S history is finally over. President Donald Trump signed the funding bill into law late Wednesday night.
The House voted 222 to 209 to pass a deal negotiated by Senate Republicans and eight Democrats, keeping the government open through January.
The agreement also reverses the mass layoffs of federal workers and restores SNAP benefits for millions of Americans.
Six House Democrats joined nearly all Republicans to vote yes, while two Republicans crossed the aisle to vote no.
Many Democrats were opposed to the bill because it doesn’t extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits that expire at the end of the year.
“I just want to tell the American people, you should not forget this when we come up to midterms and other things. Don’t forget what they’ve done to our country,” Trump said to reporters Wednesday. “So I’m always willing to work with anyone, including the other party. We’ll work on something having to do with health care. We can do a lot better. We can do great.”
With the government reopened, the FAA is freezing flight cuts at dozens of major airports.
The shortage of air traffic controllers had forced a 6% reduction in flights, a number that was set to grow to 10% by Friday.
The Department of Transportation now says those decreases won’t happen, though it’s unclear when flights will fully return to normal.
Epstein emails mentioning Trump shake Washington, fuel debate over transparency
Newly released emails written by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein are sending shockwaves through Washington. The emails, which mention Trump, sparked a bitter political fight over whether the public should see all the Epstein files.
On Wednesday, House lawmakers released more than 20,000 emails that Epstein sent between 2011 and 2019.
In one 2011 message to Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein claimed that then-businessman Donald Trump “spent hours at my house” with a young woman who would later accuse Epstein of sex trafficking.
In the email, Epstein called Trump “that dog that hasn’t barked.”
In another email that Epstein sent to author Michael Wolff, Epstein wrote that Trump “of course knew about the girls” and asked Maxwell “to stop.”
And in a separate 2015 exchange, Wolff warned Epstein that if Trump denied ever visiting him, “I think you should let him hang himself. If he says he hasn’t been on the plane or to the house, then that gives you a valuable PR and political currency.”
Democrats on the House Oversight Committee released those emails first, saying they raise new questions about what Trump knew and when.
Republicans responded hours later with a 20,000-page dump of Epstein documents from the estate, accusing Democrats of “cherry-picking” to embarrass the president.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt commented on the release on Wednesday.
“These emails prove absolutely nothing other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong. And what President Trump has always said is that he was from Palm Beach, and so was Jeffrey Epstein. Jeffrey Epstein was a member at Mar-a-Lago until President Trump kicked him out because Jeffrey Epstein was a pedophile, and he was a creep. In this email you refer to, with the name of a victim, that was unredacted and has since been reported on in this room. So I will go ahead and say it, Virginia Guthrie. And it was CBS’s own reporting, Weijia (Jiang), that recently wrote that Miss Guthrie maintained, and god rest her soul, that she maintained that there was nothing inappropriate she ever witnessed, that President Trump was always extremely professional and friendly to her.”
— White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt
The White House is calling the emails a “hoax,” arguing Trump hadn’t had contact with Epstein in decades, and Democrats are trying to change the subject away from the government shutdown.
Republicans note the woman Epstein referred to in that 2011 email — who Leavitt identified as Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s best-known survivors who died by suicide in April — never accused Trump of wrongdoing.
Grijalva signs Epstein petition, 218th signature triggers House vote
New Epstein documents surfaced the same day the House returned from a seven-week shutdown recess. Its newest member, Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva, was swept into the center of the Epstein fight.
Moments after being sworn in, Grijalva signed the discharge petition to force a vote on releasing all government files related to Jeffrey Epstein, giving the effort its crucial 218th signature.
“With my signing, we move one step closer to the truth, the truth that they will try to deny, but that survivors deserve their day of justice and the American people demand it,” Grijalva said.
Her signature means the House must now hold a vote on a bipartisan bill sponsored by Republican Thomas Massie and Democrat Ro Khanna. It requires the Justice Department to release all Epstein files with victims’ names redacted.
All 214 Democrats and four Republicans have signed on.
House Speaker Mike Johnson confirmed late Wednesday that he will bring the bill to the floor next week, earlier than expected.
The vote will force members of both parties to go on record about making the full Epstein files public, an issue that has drawn support from Trump allies and Democrats alike.
As for Grijalva, her swearing-in ended a seven-week delay that Democrats say was designed to keep her from signing that petition.
“It has been 50 days since the people of Arizona’s seventh congressional district elected me to represent them,” Grijalva said. “This is an abuse of power. One individual should not be able to unilaterally obstruct the swearing in of a duly elected member of Congress for political reasons.”
Johnson insists the delay was procedural, not political, and was delayed by the shutdown. The speaker says he followed House customs and that Grijalva “didn’t miss a vote.”
Judge orders ICE to release detainees
A federal judge in Illinois has ordered the release of hundreds of individuals apprehended during the government’s immigration enforcement effort, “Operation Midway Blitz,” in Chicago.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Cummings ruled that many of the arrests could have been unlawful and may have violated a previous court order. He ordered the first 13 detainees to be released by Friday, with more than 600 additional individuals scheduled for release into Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) alternatives to detention programs by next Friday.
Immigration advocates claimed that federal agents were making preemptive arrests due to concerns that individuals might flee before warrants were issued. They argued this action directly violated a 2022 consent decree that has been extended until 2026.
Cummings agreed, saying Homeland Security and ICE have repeatedly violated that order.
He also instructed the government to provide a complete list of everyone detained by ICE or border patrol by next Wednesday — so advocates can identify who was wrongfully arrested.
Just this week, Trump praised “Operation Midway Blitz” as a major success, claiming that shootings, robberies and carjackings have decreased in Chicago. He asserted that the full surge is still on its way.
Rev. Jesse Jackson hospitalized, diagnosed with rare brain disorder
Civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson has been hospitalized.
The 84-year-old founder of the Rainbow Push Coalition is being monitored for progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare neurodegenerative disorder that impacts balance, movement and eye control.
In a statement, his organization said Jackson was first diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease years ago, but doctors confirmed earlier this year that his actual condition is PSP.
The coalition said he’s been managing the illness for over a decade, and remains surrounded by family in good spirits while receiving care.
Northern lights dance over US, seen as far south as Atlanta
A powerful solar storm lit up the sky across much of the United States, bringing the northern lights to areas that rarely see them.
The vibrant glow of the aurora borealis lit up cities as far south as Atlanta, with faint ribbons of pink and green even visible above the skyline.
In the northern states, the show was nothing short of spectacular — brilliant streaks of color stretching across the skies in New Jersey, Massachusetts and Minnesota.
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The Aurora Borealis lights up the night sky over Monroe, Wisconsin, on November 11, 2025, during one of the strongest solar storms in decades. The geomagnetic event pushes the northern lights deep into the continental United States, with vibrant pink, red, and green hues illuminating rural farmsteads and open fields across the Midwest. (Photo by Ross Harried/NurPhoto via Getty Images) -
The Aurora Borealis lights up the night sky over Monroe, Wisconsin, on November 11, 2025, during one of the strongest solar storms in decades. The geomagnetic event pushes the northern lights deep into the continental United States, with vibrant pink, red, and green hues illuminating rural farmsteads and open fields across the Midwest. (Photo by Ross Harried/NurPhoto via Getty Images) -
BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA – NOVEMBER 12: The aurora borealis glows above along Maple Grove Road in rural Monroe County as a strong geomagnetic storm from recent solar activity pushes the Northern Lights unusually far south on November 12, 2025, in Bloomington, Indiana. Displays were reported across the United States as far south as Texas, Alabama, Georgia, and north Florida. (Photo by Jeremy Hogan/Getty Images) -
BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA – NOVEMBER 12: The aurora borealis glows above rural Monroe County as a strong geomagnetic storm from recent solar activity pushes the Northern Lights unusually far south on November 12, 2025, in Bloomington, Indiana. Displays were reported across the United States as far south as Texas, Alabama, Georgia, and north Florida. (Photo by Jeremy Hogan/Getty Images)
If you missed it on Wednesday night, don’t worry — you might still get another chance on Thursday night.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said the storm is strong enough that the northern lights could again be visible across much of the country.
Just check their online aurora map for the best viewing window — and keep your eyes on the sky.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
