Republican state senators in North Carolina have answered President Donald Trump’s plea to gerrymander the state’s congressional map so the GOP may maintain its tenuous U.S. House majority in 2026.

The state Senate on Tuesday passed a Trump-approved map that—if adopted, as expected, by the state House this week—would oust Democratic U.S. Representative Don Davis, one of North Carolina’s three Black members of Congress, from his seat.

The governor, a Democrat, is barred under state law from vetoing redistricting maps, so the only possible redress would come from the courts, which are likely to hear cases arguing that the new maps disenfranchise Black voters.

North Carolina would be the latest state, joining Texas and Missouri, to do rare, mid-decade redistricting at Trump’s behest, with Republicans in a handful of other red states, including Florida, Louisiana, Indiana, Kansas, and Ohio, possibly gearing up to follow suit.

During debate over the new North Carolina map, GOP lawmakers were not shy about the naked partisanship behind them.

“The motivation behind this redraw is simple and singular: Draw a new map that will bring an additional Republican seat to the North Carolina congressional delegation,” said Republican state Senator Ralph Hise, who helped lead the redistricting effort. “Republicans hold a razor-thin margin in the United States House of Representatives, and if Democrats flip four seats in the upcoming midterm elections, they will take control of the House and torpedo Trump’s agenda.”

If what House Oversight Chair James Comer says is true, then shouldn’t Republican lawmakers be rushing to release the government’s files on Jeffrey Epstein?

During a press conference Tuesday, Comer suggested that there was far more significant evidence linking the alleged sex trafficker to a former president than there was to President Donald Trump.

“Let’s be clear. The Democrats don’t care about transparency or accountability in this matter. The evidence we’ve gathered does not implicate President Trump in any way,” he said. “Public reporting, survivor testimony, and official documents show that Bill Clinton had far closer ties to Epstein.”

But if the files truly exonerate the president and condemn a prominent Democrat, why are Republicans making every effort to avoid the release of the government’s documents?

Democrats are the ones demanding the files be released in full, and Republicans—namely House Speaker Mike Johnson—are the ones blocking it. The speaker has repeatedly refused to swear in Arizona Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva, who is poised to provide the deciding signature on a bipartisan petition for a vote to release the Epstein files in full. Trump’s White House has even stepped in to bully the president’s party into silence. Only a handful of Republicans are currently backing the petition.

In attempting to attack the Democrats, Comer revealed Tuesday just how deluded his own party has become.

Clinton has reportedly been linked to Epstein, having traveled multiple times on Epstein’s plane for humanitarian trips to Africa, according to court documents. The former president also reportedly penned a birthday note to the convicted sex criminal. But unlike Trump, Clinton’s letter made no mention of “enigmas” who never age, and was not written inside the silhouette of a naked woman.

In fact, Comer previously said he had no intention of investigating the president’s note to Epstein. Trump’s word was good enough for him—making clear that the Republican representative is the one who doesn’t care so much about accountability or transparency.

Clinton has denied any knowledge of Epstein’s criminal activities. Trump did, too, but he also admitted that he knew Epstein “stole” 16-year-old Virginia Giuffre, who was recruited by Ghislaine Maxwell while she was working at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in 2000 to become Epstein’s traveling masseuse. Giuffre alleged that she was sexually exploited by Prince Andrew and Epstein’s other “adult male peers, including royalty, politicians, academicians, businessmen, and/or other professional and personal acquaintances.”

The White House is denying a TMZ report that Trump could commute the sentence of disgraced music producer and domestic abuser Sean “Diddy” Combs as soon as this week. The report comes days after Trump freed serial liar, convicted fraudster, and former New York Representative George Santos.

“There is zero truth to the TMZ report, which we would’ve gladly explained had they reached out before running their fake news,” the White House said in a statement to NBC News. “The President, not anonymous sources, is the final decider on pardons and commutations.”

Still, Trump himself has remained silent on the report, which was based on an anonymous source.

Combs was found guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, but was controversially acquitted on heavier charges of racketeering and sex trafficking. He was sentenced to 50 months in prison, fined $500,000, and ordered to remain under five years of supervised release.

Combs’s lawyers have already publicly asked Trump for a pardon, and the president has been fairly vague on how he feels about it.

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