Senior GOP lawmakers are rallying behind Attorney General Pam Bondi, largely siding with President Trump that she should stay in her office.

• "The president seems happy with her," Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters today. "My assumption is she's making the best out of a situation that has been hanging around for a long time."
• Asked if he has confidence in Bondi amid the Epstein fallout, House Speaker Mike Johnson said: "I do."

Why it matters: The Republican Party is tearing itself apart over the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, with MAGA faithful turning on Trump for the first time in his second term.

• "It's definitely a full reversal on what was all said beforehand, and people are just not willing to accept it," Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) told the New York Times today.
• "The president is just forgiving her, because she's a loyal soldier and he likes her and he doesn't want to go through the messy confirmation process of getting someone else," Megyn Kelly said on her radio program today.

Zoom out: Trump is trying to tamp down the tension in his party and has urged his "boys" to stop criticizing her handling of the Epstein files.

• "LET PAM BONDI DO HER JOB — SHE'S GREAT!" he said, calling Epstein "somebody that nobody cares about."
• Trump isn't prepared to change course over how his administration has handled the Epstein evidence, Axios' Marc Caputo reported this morning.
• But his team is considering at least three ways Trump could try to defuse the issue, including appointing a special counsel.

The bottom line: "I have all the confidence in the world in" Bondi, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told us. "I'm with the president on this one."

• "I trust the president's decision," Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said.

— Hans Nichols, Stef Kight and Kate Santaliz

Democrats are scrambling to take full advantage of Trump's about-face, hoping it can drive a lasting wedge between him and his MAGA base.

Why it matters: Democrats have struggled to satisfy their liberal base's growing demands to take the gloves off with Trump. Now, finally, they feel they have found their opening.

• "The average voter, who sees powerful people being protected by powerful people, and saw Donald Trump as a vehicle to break that cabal, are reckoning with the fact that maybe it was all a lie," said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii).
• Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) told us that homing in on Trump and Epstein is a good way to satisfy the base's demand for more bare-knuckle tactics "in a smart, constitutional way."

In the House, Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas) introduced a resolution demanding the DOJ release all the Epstein files, while Khanna has a measure that would force them to do so. Both are unlikely to succeed.

• On the Senate side, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) won unanimous support last week in the Appropriations Committee for his amendment requiring Bondi to preserve the Epstein files and report the findings to Congress.

— Andrew Solender and Stephen Neukam

Senate leadership is setting up votes, kicking off tomorrow, to claw back billions of dollars of appropriated federal funds.

• But first, there are GOP senators who need to be appeased.

Why it matters: There are two buckets of GOP Senate skeptics, despite Trump's threat to withhold his support or endorsement from any Republican who does not vote for the bill.

1) Skeptical on principle: Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) made an argument last week that the process of cutting spending is supposed to be through the annual appropriations process.

• Also watch Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — the top-ranked members on the Appropriations Committee.

2) Looking for tweaks: Others are more likely to get on board after changes.

• Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) fall into this category.
• The two biggest issues: Cuts to a global health program to prevent HIV and AIDS, as well as cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that could impact relied-on local radio stations. Collins also objects to PEPFAR cuts.
• OMB Director Russ Vought is expected to attend lunch tomorrow to answer additional questions from senators about the proposed cuts, per sources familiar.

The other side: Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) has been leading the charge on getting the rescissions package done.

• He noted senators are invested in "the good that PEPFAR has done" and making sure "the package is reflective of that."
• Schmitt called taxpayer-funded media a "vestige of a bygone era, and they violated the trust of American people."
• He argued stations "can do just fine on their own, going to their donors."

— Stef Kight

A pro-Trump super PAC is expanding its TV advertising blitz against Rep. Thomas Massie, whom the president is targeting for defeat.

Why it matters: Trump's political operation is showing that it's willing to spend big to beat a lone Republican for bucking the president on his "big, beautiful bill."

• The Trump-aligned MAGA Inc. super PAC is planning to spend $800,000 on a new TV ad attacking Massie (R-Ky.) for "voting with the radical Democrats," according to a person familiar with the buy.
• The ad begins tomorrow and runs through July 28 and will air on broadcast stations in the Louisville, Kentucky, and Cincinnati media markets.

Go deeper. See the ad

— Alex Isenstadt