Latest news with #HouseSpeaker
Fox News
2 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
'We are bullish about the future because America is back,' says Mike Johnson
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., touts the successes of the Trump administration so far this term on 'One Nation.'
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Mike Johnson shuts Congress for summer to avoid dealing with Trump handling of Epstein files
House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday ground the House of Representatives to a screeching halt in order to block Democrats from bringing up amendments calling for the release of files related to sex trafficking financier Jeffrey Epstein. The speaker's decision to virtually shut down procedure in the House of Representatives — a week before Congress' summer break — comes as President Donald Trump continues to receive criticism from all sides for his handling of the promised release of all government files related to Epstein. But Johnson's early recess could also impact the House's ability to keep the government open when they return and allow political crises to mushroom when members go back home to face their constituents. The move to halt the action of the House Rules committee came after Democrats repeatedly tried to introduce amendments to force the disclosure of files related to Epstein, who was found hanged in his New York prison cell in 2019. Johnson expressed his frustration over what he described as the Democrats' attempts to weaponize the Rules process, at times pounding his fist on the podium talking about Epstein, attacking the minority for their supposed hypocrisy for covering for former President Joe Biden's diminished state in the second half of his administration. 'We're not going to allow them to engage in that charade,' Johnson told reporters during his weekly press conference. 'They controlled the Department of Justice for the last four years,' the speaker said. 'Has anyone forgotten they had all these files the entire time?' But Rep. Jim McGovern, the ranking Democrat on the Rules Committee, criticized Johnson's maneuvering. 'I mean, it tells me that he's scared s***less,' McGovern told The Independent. 'I've never seen anything quite like this. I mean, where, I mean, literally, the Speaker of the House just canceled everything and said, you know, as the song goes, 'See you in September.'' Republicans have hoped to shift the conversation more toward touting the merits of their 'One Big, Beautiful Bill' legislation that Trump signed into law on July 4. But the party fell into bedlam this month after the Justice Department in conjunction with the FBI released a two-page memo that determined that Epstein had no client list and that no 'further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.' That came despite the fact that many officials who would join the Trump administration such as Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino pledged they would release additional information about Epstein. Republicans came into further chaos when last week The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump allegedly sent a bawdy 50th birthday card message to Epstein, his former friend whom he broke with before the feds began investigating Epstein publicly. The president vehemently denied that he sent it and filed a $10 million federal lawsuit against the paper, its parent company News Corp and its founder Rupert Murdoch. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Johnson insisted that Trump wanted to get to the bottom of the story. 'Trump's in the courts right now trying to get a lot of that information unsealed so the American public can see it,' Scalise said. But Trump only announced he would ask Bondi to release grand jury transcripts after the WSJ reported its story. Trump himself has called the Epstein conspiracy theories over which he once fanned the flames a 'hoax' and now says 'my PAST supporters have bought into this 'bullshit,' hook, line, and sinker.' The halting of votes for the House Rules Committee means that the House will not be able to tee up votes to pass many of the spending bills that Congress hoped to pass before the August recess, when members break to go back to their districts. When it returns, Congress must pass its spending bills by the end of September to avoid a government shutdown. But Johnson might not then be able to avoid a vote on Epstein. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) teamed up with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) to pass a discharge petition, which allows them to circumvent the committee process to bring a vote on releasing files related to Epstein to the floor. 'They know that the public wants that, and they don't want their members voting,' Khanna told The Independent. 'I mean, I've ever seen anything like it.' So far, many Republicans have joined onto the petition and every Democrat will likely sign on, much to the chagrin of Johnson. 'We're not going to play political games with this,' Johnson said. 'You have to allow the legislation to ripen, and you also have to allow the administration the space to do what it is doing.' Discharge petitions need seven legislative business days to ripen. The House broke late on Thursday evening into Friday morning last week and its last legislative day before the recess will be on Wednesday, meaning the petition will be kicked into when the House reconvenes in September. But even if the House were to pass Massie and Khanna's legislation, it would need to face a vote in the Senate, where it would face a more significant challenge. On Tuesday afternoon, Bill Gates, the multibillionaire co-founder of Microsoft who was a friend of Epstein, was roaming the basement of the Senate. He did not respond to questions from The Independent about disclosing files related to Epstein.
Fox News
7 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Newt Gingrich: There's a new coalition forming in the Democratic Party
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich explains how the Democratic Party is morphing and its search for new leadership on 'Hannity.'
Yahoo
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Mike Johnson Shuts Down U.S. House Until September to Prevent Congress from Voting to Release Epstein Files
The GOP House speaker opted to send lawmakers home for the summer a day early after pressure began mounting for Republicans to defy Trump and demand more Epstein evidence House Speaker Mike Johnson is shutting the House of Representatives down early in order to prevent lawmakers from voting on the release of the Epstein files. On Monday night, the House Rules committee came to a stalemate, with Democrats — and some Republicans — pushing to include Epstein-related proposals in bills up for debate this week. Rather than allow more votes on the Epstein evidence, Republicans recessed the committee. This means that, while the House was due to be in session until Thursday, July 24, they won't have anything to vote on after Wednesday, and representatives will adjourn for their summer break. Johnson toed President Donald Trump's party line when addressing the decision with reporters. ADVERTISEMENT "We all understand that the 'America First' agenda and the American people are best served by putting an end to the Democrat side shows, and that's what we're doing by not allowing the Rules Committee to continue with that nonsense this week," the Louisiana Republican said. "We are not going to let them use this as a political battering ram," he added. "The Rules Committee became the ground for them to do that." Andrew Harnik/Getty President Donald Trump and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson speak to the press on May 20, 2025 Earlier this month, the Department of Justice and FBI released a joint memo, which stated that their investigation into Epstein's alleged crimes and subsequent death in prison was complete. The memo also stated the investigation found that Epstein's long-rumored "client list" did not exist. Since then, calls for the Trump administration to release the evidence in the 2019 child sex trafficking case against the billionaire and alleged predator have come from Democrats and Republicans alike. ADVERTISEMENT Trump, who campaigned last year on promises that he would declassify and release more evidence related to the Epstein case, has since backtracked, referring to interest in the case as the "Epstein hoax," and shunning followers who "bought into" it. Earlier this week, he did direct Attorney General Pam Bondi to release "any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony," though it's unclear how much evidence the president's social media orders will be able to make public. By law, grand jury testimony is kept secret, except in matters of national security or counterintelligence, neither of which applies in this case. Moreover, some legal experts have said that the release of the grand jury testimony may be a misdirect to appease the public and distract from the other evidence in the case. 'Trump knows SDNY prosecutors seeking to indict Epstein and Maxwell didn't ask questions about him in their grand jury presentations while he was POTUS. It's a red herring to distract from the evidence that matters: witness interview notes, videos, photos, etc.,' wrote Kristy Greenberg, a legal analyst for MSNBC and a former federal prosecutor, on X on July 17. Davidoff Studios/Getty Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago in 1997 According to an itemized list from the Department of Justice, the evidence in their custody includes photos, cameras, computers, hard drives and more, including one CD labeled "girl pics nude book 4." ADVERTISEMENT However, Trump's grand jury orders were enough for Johnson, who continued on Tuesday to accuse Democrats of playing "political games" in the House. "The president has said clearly, and he has now ordered his DOJ to do what it is we've all needed DOJ to do for years now, and that is to get everything released," he said. "So they're in the process of that. There's no purpose for Congress to push an administration to do something that they're already doing." "We can both call for full transparency and also protect victims. And if you run roughshod or you do it too quickly, that's not what happens," the House speaker added. Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, a libertarian-aligned lawmaker, is one of the few congressional Republicans who has pushed back against Trump during his second term. He one of only two House Republicans who voted against Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill" earlier this month and has been one of the most vocal members of the House calling for a vote on releasing the Epstein docs. This has placed him in Trump's crosshairs and earned him a social media rant from the president on Tuesday. ADVERTISEMENT "Thomas Massie, the worst Republican Congressman, and an almost guaranteed NO VOTE each and every time, is an Embarrassment to Kentucky," Trump wrote. "He's lazy, slow moving, and totally disingenuous - A real loser! Never has anything positive to add. Looking for someone good to run against this guy, someone I can Endorse and vigorously campaign for!" Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Speaking with a reporter outside the Capitol building later in the day, Massie didn't seem bothered by the president's threats. "They're trying to beat up on me to keep everybody else in line here," he said. "I think it's not working. I think what's gonna happen is this will be a referendum on whether the executive branch controls the legislative branch." "I'm gonna prevail, and what they're gonna find out is, it will embolden members of Congress here to go with their heart, with their mind, with their constituents, and not just toe the party line," Massie added. Read the original article on People
The Independent
22-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Mike Johnson shuts Congress for summer to avoid dealing with Trump handling of Epstein files
House Speaker Mike Johnson on Tuesday ground the House of Representatives to a screeching halt in order to block Democrats from bringing up amendments calling for the release of files related to sex trafficking financier Jeffrey Epstein. The speaker's decision to virtually shut down procedure in the House of Representatives — a week before Congress' summer break — comes as President Donald Trump continues to receive criticism from all sides for his handling of the promised release of all government files related to Epstein. But Johnson's early recess could also impact the House's ability to keep the government open when they return and allow political crises to mushroom when members go back home to face their constituents. The move to halt the action of the House Rules committee came after Democrats repeatedly tried to introduce amendments to force the disclosure of files related to Epstein, who was found hanged in his New York prison cell in 2019. Johnson expressed his frustration over what he described as the Democrats' attempts to weaponize the Rules process, at times pounding his fist on the podium talking about Epstein, attacking the minority for their supposed hypocrisy for covering for former President Joe Biden's diminished state in the second half of his administration. 'We're not going to allow them to engage in that charade,' Johnson told reporters during his weekly press conference. 'They controlled the Department of Justice for the last four years. Has anyone forgotten they had all these files the entire time?' Republicans have hoped to shift the conversation more toward touting the merits of their 'One Big, Beautiful Bill' legislation that Trump signed into law on July 4. But the party fell into bedlam this month after the Justice Department in conjunction with the FBI released a two-page memo that determined that Epstein had no client list and that no ' further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted.' That came despite the fact that many officials who would join the Trump administration such as Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino pledged they would release additional information about Epstein. Republicans came into further chaos when last week The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump allegedly sent a bawdy 50th birthday card message to Epstein, his former friend who he broke with before the feds began investigating him publicly. The president vehemently denied that he sent it and filed a $10 million federal lawsuit against the paper, its parent company News Corp and its founder Rupert Murdoch. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Johnson insisted that Trump wanted to get to the bottom of the story. 'Trump's in the courts right now trying to get a lot of that information unsealed so the American public can see it,' Scalise said. But Trump only announced he would ask Bondi to release grand jury transcripts after the WSJ reported its story. Trump himself has called the Epstein conspiracy theories over which he once fanned the flames a 'hoax' and now says 'my PAST supporters have bought into this 'bullshit,' hook, line, and sinker.' The halting of votes for the House Rules Committee means that the House will not be able to tee up votes to pass many of the spending bills that Congress hoped to pass before the August recess, when members break to go back to their districts. When it returns, Congress must pass its spending bills by the end of September to avoid a government shutdown. But Johnson might not then be able to avoid a vote on Epstein. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) teamed up with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) to pass a discharge petition, which allow them to circumvent the committee process to bring a vote on releasing files related to Epstein to the floor. So far, many Republicans have joined onto the petition and every Democrat will likely sign on, much to the chagrin of Johnson. 'We're not going to play political games with this,' Johnson said. 'You have to allow the legislation to ripen, and you also have to allow the administration the space to do what it is doing.' Discharge petitions need seven legislative business days to ripen. The House broke late on Thursday evening into Friday morning last week and its last legislative day before the recess will be on Wednesday, meaning the petition will be kicked into when the House reconvenes in September. But even if the House were to pass Massie and Khanna's legislation, it would need to face a vote in the Senate, where it would face a more significant challenge. On Tuesday afternoon, Bill Gates, the multibillionaire co-founder of Microsoft who was a friend of Epstein, was roaming the basement of the Senate. He did not respond to questions from The Independent about disclosing files related to Epstein.
