4 days ago
GOP leaders submarined by Epstein uproar
House Republican leaders who have tried to contain the furor over the Jeffrey Epstein files lost their grip on the matter this week — and surrendered control of the wider operations of the lower chamber.
A bonanza of subpoenas for Epstein-related materials and testimony erupted in the House Oversight Committee. A House Appropriations Committee markup was postponed amid threats of Democrats forcing more Epstein-related materials. And a rebellion on the House Rules Committee over Epstein amendments thwarted plans for House votes, prompting leaders to begin August recess one day early.
Hanging over the whirlwind of a week is a discharge petition that Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) is vowing to spearhead for his bipartisan resolution — co-sponsored by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) — calling for the release of the Epstein files. The mechanism will not be ready for action until September, given the House's strict rules, meaning the Epstein saga will still be a live issue on Capitol Hill when lawmakers return from their August recess.
Supporters of the effort say they have no plans to relent.
'I think it'll grow,' Massie said when asked if he thinks the Epstein controversy will still be of interest when the House returns in September.
That prediction runs counter to the posture of House GOP leaders, who had hoped that the coming August recess would give the Epstein saga time to fade.
The Speaker this week argued that the courts need time to work through the process, giving deference to the administration to release information on its own terms before the House compelled it to do so.
In a sign of that position, House GOP leaders acquiesced to members of the House Rules Committee who wanted to avoid taking more votes on Democratic amendments on Epstein, putting the panel into an indefinite recess and delaying bills that were scheduled to come up for a full floor vote — though Johnson publicly said the move was to avoid playing Democrats' 'political games.'
President Trump made an overture to members of the Rules Republicans at another White House event on Tuesday amid the drama, inviting a group of them into the Oval Office. But Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) said that Trump thanked them for their work on the 'big, beautiful bill' of his tax cut and spending priorities without mentioning the Epstein holdup. Not every Rules panel member was there — with Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), one of those calling for more Epstein action by Republicans, saying he was not made aware of the gathering.
While the moves made by Republicans were shocking, they were not surprising for some: Leaders had been warned that another Epstein eruption could be coming in other corners of the House.
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) said he had told Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) last week that if the House was in session this week, he would not be able to stop Republicans from making moves for more Epstein information.
'I told Speaker Johnson last week that if we were in session this week that Republicans on the Oversight Committee were going to move to be more aggressive and try to get transparency with the Epstein files,' Comer said on Thursday.
Comer's full committee on Tuesday approved a motion from Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) to subpoena Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted sex offender and longtime Epstein associate.
Johnson subsequently raised doubts about Maxwell's credibility and usefulness of her testimony.
'Can we trust what she's gonna say, even if she raises her hand and says that she'll testify under oath?' Johnson said. 'Is that something that can be trusted? You know, that's a reasonable question. Is that credible evidence?'
Comer, bound by the rules of the committee, issued the Maxwell subpoena and hopes to depose her from prison on Aug. 11.
But that wasn't all. On Wednesday, an Oversight subcommittee greenlit a motion from Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) to subpoena the Department of Justice on materials relating to Epstein — with three Republicans joining Democrats to approve the subpoena.
Softening the blow from the Democratic motion, the subcommittee also approved by voice vote a motion from Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) to approve a swath of subpoenas to high profile former Democratic officials, including the former President Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who knew Maxwell and Epstein.
'I'm surprised that the Democrats went along with subpoenaing Bill and Hillary Clinton and others that were involved with that,' Comer said Thursday. 'I never thought we would be questioning the Clintons and others on — with respect to the Epstein files, but the Democrats voted in a bipartisan manner yesterday to do that.'
The drama didn't end there. The House Appropriations Committee postponed a markup for a bill to fund the Justice Department and other agencies that had been scheduled for Thursday, as Democrats were planning to force more amendment votes on Epstein.
A source told The Hill that Democrats were 'absolutely' going to bring more votes on Epstein amendments, adding: 'We think that may be one of the reasons they canceled.' Markups in the past have been shifted due to changes in the House calendar, and the Appropriations Committee noted that votes were canceled on Thursday when postponing the markup.
The wave of action on Capitol Hill comes as the Trump administration is taking steps to try and quell the anger — but those efforts that are already running into roadblocks.
Last week, President Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to move to release relevant grand jury transcripts from the Epstein case. On Wednesday, however, a federal judge in Florida declined that entreaty, rebuffing their attempt at releasing information from the Sunshine State's 2005 and 2007 federal investigations into Epstein.
And this week, a top Justice Department official was expected to meet with Maxwell in Florida.
Massie said the administration's efforts won't be enough to quell the outcry among GOP lawmakers.
'They're gonna do drips and drabs,' he said of the administration's attempts to release information, 'and so the drips and drabs aren't gonna get it done.'
If that is the case, more House action could be on the horizon. Johnson said if the administration does not provide enough information, the chamber would take matters into their own hands come the fall.
'This information should have come out a long time ago,' Johnson told reporters in the Capitol on Wednesday. 'I've been an advocate of that, we all have. But that process is underway right now, and we've got to zealously guard that and protect it and make sure it's happening. And if it doesn't, then we'll take appropriate action when everybody returns here. But we have to allow the court process to play out, that's how it works.'
NewsNation contributed to this report.
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