Republicans skittish over Epstein votes close US House early
The furor around the disgraced financier, who died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial for trafficking minors, is still roiling Donald Trump's administration two weeks after his Justice Department effectively closed the case, announcing there was no more information to share.
Democrats in the House -- keen to capitalize on the simmering controversy -- have been trying to force a vote that would compel the publication of the full Epstein case files.
Desperate to avert the effort, the Republican leadership canceled votes scheduled for Thursday, sending lawmakers home for the August recess a day early.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Trump loyalist, sought to frame the early finish as business-as-usual, insisting that many lawmakers would be continuing committee work rather than heading back to their districts, and denying claims of a cover-up.
"Democrats said nothing and did nothing -- absolutely nothing -- about bringing transparency for the entire four years of the Biden presidency," Johnson told reporters at the US Capitol.
"Now, all of a sudden, they want the American people to believe that they actually care. Their actions belie their words."
But Democrats accused the majority Republicans of running scared of their own voters, many of whom have been demanding more transparency.
"As it relates to releasing the Epstein files that every single one of the top leaders of the Trump Justice Department -- and the Trump FBI and the vice president and the president himself -- promised to release, Republicans are on the run," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters.
In a July 7 memo, the Justice Department said the Epstein "client list" that Attorney General Pam Bondi claimed to have been reviewing did not in fact exist, and reaffirmed that he died by suicide in his prison cell.
It sparked a furious backlash from Trump's "MAGA" support base, who have for years been told by their leaders that a "deep state" cover-up was protecting figures in the Democratic Party whom they accuse of being Epstein's clients.
- 'Dirtbags' -
Trump's MAGA lieutenants -- including two allies who have since been hired to run the FBI -- made careers of fanning the conspiracy theories, including that Epstein's suicide was actually a murder ordered by his powerful clients.
Prominent online influencers and media figures in the movement -- as well as ordinary voters -- have spoken of feeling betrayed after Trump began publicly castigating them for wanting answers.
Further complicating the issue for Republicans, Trump's own ties to Epstein are extensive.
The pair were frequently pictured partying together during a 15-year friendship before they fell out in 2004 over a property deal.
The White House has been furiously pushing back against a Wall Street Journal report that said Trump had contributed a "bawdy" letter with his signature for Epstein's 50th birthday in 2003.
Under the biggest political pressure in the first six months of his second presidential term, Trump has authorized Bondi to release "credible" Epstein information and has asked courts to unseal grand jury transcripts in the case.
Bondi's deputy Todd Blanche said this week he was seeking a meeting with Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, 63, who is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking and other crimes.
With a Republican rebellion in the House gathering pace, the Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee had already voted to subpoena Maxwell to talk with lawmakers at her Florida prison.
"We've got to send a message to these dirtbags that do this, that this is not acceptable behavior," said Republican Tim Burchett, who introduced the motion.
Epstein admitted two state felony prostitution charges in 2008 as part of a plea deal -- arranged by a prosecutor who would go on to serve in Trump's cabinet -- that was widely criticized as being too lenient.
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