Morning Brief: Mamdani At The White House, Epstein Files Loom, & Mixed Jobs Report

D.C. is abuzz today ahead of President Trump’s meeting with Mamdani, fallout from the Epstein files mounts, and the September jobs report smashes expectations.

It’s Friday, November 21, 2025, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. Today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below, and the video version can be seen on The Daily Wire:

Trump vs. Mamdani

Topline: Despite the pair’s verbal battle during the New York City mayoral race, President Donald Trump plans to meet with far-Left Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani at the White House on Friday afternoon.

There’s been a lot of back-and-forth between Trump and Mamdani. Trump even said during the mayoral campaign that he’d withhold federal funding from New York City if Mamdani were to win. Since Mamdani has since won, that threat presumably now looms large. The meeting could be a chance to build a relationship, however.

Mamdani’s olive branch: It was Mamdani who reached out to Trump. He also changed his tone on Trump ahead of the meeting. During a presser on Thursday, Mamdani seemed to draw some parallels between himself and the president. That could be interpreted as an olive branch–but also as a self-serving comparison. 

“We ran a campaign focused on the … cost of living. And what we found actually is that one in 10 New Yorkers who voted for Trump ended up voting for our campaign, and they did so because they’re looking for leaders to actually deliver on the cost of living crisis,” said Mamdani.

That is a far cry from Mamdani’s mayoral victory speech when he said he’d be “Trump-proofing” New York City and called Trump a “despot.”

What about Trump? Trump, too, seems open to the meeting. He obviously accepted the meeting request, and he also said this week that he wants to see “everything work out well for New York.”

What to expect: As for the agenda, Mamdani said he wants to talk to Trump about public safety, economic security, and affordability for New Yorkers.

“Affordability,” though, seemed to be Mamdani’s pitch to New Yorkers who really don’t like Trump and might not like him taking this meeting. Mamdani stressed that he’d work with anyone to bring down costs, and he acknowledged that he does need the White House. He needs funding from the federal government if he really wants to help New Yorkers.

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What Comes Next On Epstein Files

Topline: After years of sealed documents and whispered allegations around Jeffrey Epstein, President Trump has signed the bill forcing the release of the Epstein files, as new emails and texts are already leaking.

The order directs all documents to be produced, but there are exceptions carved out for the protection of witnesses’ and victims’ identities, for national security, and for ongoing probes. Those exceptions could still delay some of these documents.

At the same time, victims such as Annie Farmer, who testified alongside Virginia Giuffre’s family, are still hailing this as a long overdue victory.

The measure now requires Attorney General Pam Bondi to release all unclassified Epstein documents within 30 days, including flight records, emails, and plea deal details. 

The Trump flip:  The Trump and the White House previously opposed this full release of the files, but earlier this week, the president made a prominent turnaround in messaging.

One reason the White House resisted the release for months prior was that it felt the vote would be premature. Eventually, though, all of those objections melted away in the face of vociferous public pressure from people and critics who wanted answers.

President Trump ended up urging Republicans to vote for it because, as he posted on social media, “we have nothing to hide.” Trump has additionally called for a new investigation into various Epstein associates, including former President Bill Clinton and others.

What to watch:  There are many layers to this. One of those is the perception of Trump’s past association with Epstein, which appears to have hurt him, as well as his resistance, for a time, to releasing all the documents.

But this has been damaging for Democrats as well. The documents already released show that Epstein fed questions to Democratic Delegate Stacey Plaskett during a congressional hearing in 2019. On Tuesday, Plaskett characterized her communication with Epstein as simply receiving texts from a constituent.

Many other figures have been wrapped up in the Epstein files, as well, including former Clinton Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. He continued to communicate with Epstein up until 2019, long after Epstein had been put in jail.

Jobs Report A Mixed Bag Ahead Of December Fed Meeting

Topline: The September jobs numbers are finally here after data was delayed nearly two months over the government shutdown. While administration officials are excited about the data, a new poll shows Americans may not be as optimistic about the direction of the economy.

The data: The headline number from the report is the 119,000 jobs added in September. It is the highest gain since April, and it came in more than double economists’ expectations for the month. Downward revisions for July and August’s numbers stole some of the momentum, coming in 33,000 lower than previously reported.

The unemployment rate ticked up slightly from 4.3% to 4.4%. Overall, the administration says it is happy with the numbers.

“In the first 10 months of the Trump economy, we’ve increased take-home pay by about $1,200, adjusting for inflation. That’s a huge, huge thing,” said Vice President JD Vance on Thursday. “And this is really important … we are seeing the job growth go to native-born American citizens” rather than to illegal aliens.

Looking ahead: This jobs report is particularly important because it’s the only snapshot of the labor market ahead of the Federal Reserve’s next meeting on December 9 and 10.

Heather Long, the chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, expects the Fed to hold interest rates steady.

Long points out that even though the jobs report has good numbers in September, the economy’s four-month average ending in September is only 44,000–just barely “treading water.” Labor force participation is up, a good sign even as the unemployment rate ticks up. But, according to Long, “it’s hard to argue things look *better* in the labor market.” It has largely remained steady, with no significant gains or losses.

Is Trump in trouble? Americans overall are not optimistic about the direction the economy is heading.

Fox News released its latest national survey on Wednesday. According to Fox News, “Some 76% of voters view the economy negatively–worse than the 67% who felt that way in July and the 70% who said the same at the end of … President Biden’s term.”

The news gets worse for Trump, specifically. According to Fox News, “About twice as many [respondents] say President Donald Trump, rather than Biden, is responsible for the current economy. And three times as many say Trump’s economic policies have hurt them,” about the same as said Biden’s did last year.