New York: The White House Situation Room is home to a labyrinth of highly secure conference rooms where presidents oversee intelligence briefings and high-stakes military operations.

But as the latest instalment of the Jeffrey Epstein saga played out, the room hosted a different kind of meeting: top Trump administration officials met with Republican congresswoman Lauren Boebert to try to convince her not to sign a petition that would force a vote on releasing the so-called Epstein Files.

Confirming the meeting, first reported by CNN, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it showed the government was being transparent with Congress. “I’m not going to detail conversations that took place in the Situation Room,” she told reporters.

The Epstein saga is an albatross around Donald Trump’s neck.Credit: Screengrab

Another way of reading this: the White House is panicking. Not just over the tranche of Epstein-related emails released on Wednesday, Washington time, by the House of Representatives’ oversight committee, but the petition to release all the files – now signed by enough members to force a vote in the House.

In addition to summoning Boebert (and calling her, according to The New York Times), US President Donald Trump made a last-ditch plea, or threat, by posting to his Truth Social page that........

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