By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO — House Republicans had an ulterior motive for sustaining the six-week shutdown of the federal government, Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, charged today (Friday, Nov. 14).
It was to shield President Donald Trump from fallout from the growing scandal concerning the late Jeffrey Epstein‘s alleged sex trafficking of underage girls.
During the shutdown, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson refused to swear in Adelita Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat, who won a special election to fill the seat left vacant by the death of her father Raul Grijalva earlier in 2025.
Johnson thus blocked Adelita from becoming the required 218th signature on a discharge petition forcing a floor vote on the release of the Epstein files.
“This came amid newly-released Epstein emails that include Epstein’s own assertion that ‘of course Trump knew about the girls’ and a claim that Trump spent hours with one of the victims at Epstein’s home. More and more, it appears the Epstein files are a political danger for Trump,” Soifer said.
“Transparency on this issue is critical, as is the rule of law, despite Trump’s ongoing efforts to obfuscate and obstruct both. … Might Trump take us to war wih Venezuela to deflect from the Epstein controversy? Governor JB Pritzker [of Illinois] and others have suggested as much.”
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Award-winning journalist Ken Stone, in an email to this columnist, reports that Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (D-San Diego) and Democratic congressional aspirant Ammar Campa-Najjar “are living together in Kensington Heights, just south of I-8. They both are registered to vote from the same address. I have ROV [Registrar of Voters] docs that prove this.”
To date, Jacobs has not publicly endorsed her housemate’s campaign to oust Republican Darrell Issa from the 48th Congressional District seat in 2026. Former U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California, on Thursday endorsed San Diego City Councilwoman Marni von Wilpert, a Democrat, in that race.
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New Jersey’s attorney general Matt Platkin on Thursday announced his office is charging 14 people — including some with alleged ties to the Lucchese crime family — with operating a multimillion dollar illegal sports betting operation. In a statement, Platkin said: “Despite the proliferation of legal betting of all kinds, gambling remains a mainstay of members and associates of organized crime. The locations and methods may have evolved, but illegal gambling — in this case, sports betting — remains a problem, and we will charge those who seek to profit from it.”
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Former Congressman Ted Deutch (D-Florida), in his capacity as CEO of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) signed in Tokyo “a landmark partnership agreement with the Jewish Community of Japan (JCJ), strengthening ties between Jewish communities in the United States and Japan, and underscoring AJC’s commitment to building global solidarity.” Jonathan Tischler, JCJ President, commented: “We are proud to join AJC’s global network and to bring the unique perspective of Jews in Japan to the wider Jewish world. With so many of our younger members studying in the United States, and given our community’s historic ties to American Jewry, formalizing our longstanding partnership with AJC adds tremendous value and further strengthens the bridges between our communities.”
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At the annual Theodor Herzl Award Dinner in New York, World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder said awardees U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) and Congresswoman Elise Stefanic (R-New York) “are two officials on the national stage who have defied the onslaught against us and stood up to the frightening rise of antisemitism and the hatred of Zionism. They have stood up publicly, unapologetically, and unequivocally in defense of the State of Israel and the Jewish people.”
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Donald H. Harrison is publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World.