EDITOR’S NOTE: I’m Gin Dumcius, taking the wheel 15 years after I first pitched a morning newsletter called “Hed Compendium.” I’ll spare you the other names we batted around before settling on MASSterList. I’m glad to be back in your inbox, and today, I’m starting off by writing about another list. Read on for more.
John Deaton, who mounted a Republican run against US Sen. Elizabeth Warren in 2024, is still considering a 2026 campaign against her fellow Senate Democrat Ed Markey.
But he and Markey are in some alignment on one issue that’s roiling the White House and the ranks of Donald Trump supporters: Release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Deaton, a sex abuse survivor, dove into the online fray over the alleged government coverup involving Epstein, who killed himself in 2019 while awaiting a trial on federal sex-trafficking charges.
The outrage came after federal law enforcement officials said there is no “list” of powerful Epstein clients. Trump, whose campaign courted believers of an Epstein conspiracy theory, posted a statement demanding that people move on from the topic, and then floated a new conspiracy theory claiming former President Barack Obama created fake files.
Deaton, who didn’t vote for Trump but believes the list exists, said Trump is pouring fuel onto the fire and creating a divide within the ranks. “It’s like ‘Okay, there isn’t a list, but there is a list created by Obama,’” said Deaton, who blanked the presidential ballot in 2024.
Democrats say the Epstein uproar is the result of Trump indulging conspiracy theorists who now won’t take no for an answer. “You reap what you sow,” Markey said Monday. Asked whether he believes the list exists, he replied, “If Trump has nothing to hide, he should release any information his administration has.”
But Markey added that he felt the furor over the files is also a “distraction” from cuts to Medicaid, as well as solar and wind project funding. That’s where he and Deaton diverge.
“I find it odd he says it when Trump is president but probably not so much when Biden was president,” Deaton said. “It’s about transparency in government.”
Deaton, who moved to Massachusetts to run against Warren and still lives in the Worcester County town of Bolton, said he expects to make a call on a 2026 run later this year, likely in the fall.
Deaton told me, “I don’t think this issue is going away” for Trump. (Asked for comment, a spokesman for the MassGOP said he defers to Deaton as the Marine vet and lawyer weighs a Senate run.) Let me know what you think: gin@MASSterList.com.
NEWS NEXT DOOR
FALL RIVER FIREFIGHT: Understaffing of firefighters in Fall River may have led to some of the deaths during a fire at the Gabriel House Assisted Living Residence, a top union leader said, while a current and former employee at the facility indicated that there was lax regulatory oversight of its operations. – NBC Boston and Boston Globe
ROOM TO GROW: Some good news for Boston’s lab market, as leases doubled in the second quarter of 2025. – Boston Business Journal
SHERIFF SETTLEMENT: U.S .Labor Department investigators found $2 million in unpaid wages at the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department and violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act, according to a settlement uncovered through a public records request. – MassLive
INSIDER/OUTSIDER: Former Gov. Deval Patrick talks about the new statue in Great Barrington of the sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois, and his hopes for a 2028 candidate, “someone who will appreciate that the political dynamic today is not Democrat or Republican, it’s insider, outsider.” – Berkshire Eagle
ENROLLMENT DECLINE: Public school enrollment hasn’t returned to pre-pandemic levels, and the declines could keep coming here and elsewhere, according to projections. – Stateline
FROM BEACON HILL
POSSIBLE QUASI-CUT: Gov. Maura Healey says she’s asking state lawmakers to expand her budget-cutting powers to quasi-public agencies that have typically operated independently from the Corner Office. – Boston Herald
A WEEK IN PROVENCE: Gov. Maura Healey spent last week in France as part of a family trip, she told reporters at the State House. The trip, which left Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll in charge, drew criticism from conservatives who said the governor had left the state without telling the public where she was. – State House News Service
DRY SPOT: Gov. Maura Healey’s environmental bond bill, focused on climate priorities, does not address drought management, despite last year’s low rainfall leading to calls for water conservation. – CommonWealth Beacon
MORE HEADLINES
After MBTA zoning repeal, Marblehead Select Board to weigh strategy
Who has raised the most in the Boston mayoral race
Hospital to spend $3.6 million on community health programs
Report: MBTA costs way up since spending control board disbanded