GOP lawmakers at odds as Epstein fallout continues
Signs of mounting pressure to respond to calls for transparency appeared last week when a GOP-majority House Oversight subcommittee voted to subpoena the Department of Justice for files related to Epstein. House Oversight Chair James Comer has also subpoenaed Epstein's accomplice and former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, for a deposition.
Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence in Tallahassee, Florida, for sex trafficking of minors also met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on Thursday and Friday for questioning.
Those developments come as some Republicans question the DOJ's handling of the files and others urge the administration to share unreleased information with the public.
Missouri Republican Rep. Eric Burlison on Sunday called it a 'political mistake' for the administration to have raised expectations about new revelations related to Epstein.
'I think that part of this problem is that there were some false expectations that are created, and that's, that's a political mistake,' Burlison told CNN's Manu Raju. 'I think that saying that you're going to be able to deliver when you haven't even looked at all of the files and what's available was probably a misstep.'
Burlison has also said that a large percentage of the calls his office has received in recent days are related to the Epstein case, with many concerned the government might be keeping secrets from them. Now that House lawmakers are back in their districts for August recess, they'll likely be fielding questions about this directly from constituents.
On Friday, another GOP representative, Mike Kennedy of Utah, who is a practicing physician, compared the files to 'a festering oil-infected wound with pus underneath' that could get worse if not treated properly.
'In the case of this Epstein stuff, absolutely let it out,' he said.
Kennedy pledged to push for 'full transparency' in the matter and that he would 'vote immediately to get all that released,' permitted that the identities of victims are concealed.
GOP Rep. Thomas Massie and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna are trying to bypass House Speaker Mike Johnson and force a vote on a separate bill calling for the release of the files. Massie, a Kentucky lawmaker who broke with Trump over the president's sweeping agenda bill, will need a majority of House members to sign on to their discharge petition to force a floor vote.
For his part, Johnson has repeatedly said he supports transparency. On Sunday, the Louisiana Republican defended his handling of the efforts to release Epstein-related information as he faces a split conference.
'Let me be absolutely clear. As we have been from the very beginning, House Republicans insist upon the release of all credible evidence and information related to Epstein in any way,' he said Sunday on NBC's 'Meet the Press.'
Massie and Khanna's petition, he insisted, was 'reckless in the way that it is drafted and presented,' arguing that it did not include adequate protections for victims. He also pushed back on claims he adjourned the House early for August recess to avoid the petition, pointing out the petition would not 'ripen' until Friday when the House was already scheduled to be out.
Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin told CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday that Congress does not have the ability to force the release of the files, and that judges have to decide to release grand jury evidence, pointing toward a Florida federal judge declining to release additional grand jury documents last week.
'(Attorney General) Pam Bondi has called on the judges to release it. Trump has called on them to release it, and Congress has called on them to release it. But we can't, because there is a true co-equal branch of government so we can't force a judicial branch to do anything,' he said.
The grand jury testimony the department seeks to release, however, is only a small portion of the thousands of documents related to the Epstein investigation and criminal case. Many of those documents are already in DOJ custody and may not have been presented to the jury.
Judges have already released hundreds of documents in the Epstein saga. The majority of those held back were deemed unsuitable to be released because of federal laws that protect the privacy of Epstein victims and people not charged with crimes.
This all comes as Trump continues a five-day trip to Scotland, where he announced Sunday that the United States and the European Union reached a framework for a trade deal after talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
When asked by a reporter at press conference if part of the reason for getting the deal done was to distract from the Epstein-related uproar, Trump said, 'You've got to be kidding me. No. It had nothing to do with it.'
The president has deflected questions on the topic, claiming limited knowledge on the investigation, even though reports have emerged that he was told in May by Bondi that his name appeared in the files.
Over the weekend, Trump also expanded his calls for the prosecution of political enemies. On Sunday, citing no evidence of wrongdoing, the president took to social media to call for the prosecution of former Vice President Kamala Harris and several prominent celebrities, including Beyoncé and Oprah Winfrey, accusing them of illegally receiving payments in exchange for endorsing Democratic candidates, including Harris.
CNN has fact-checked the Beyoncé claim, and found it did not happen.
CNN's Hannah Rabinowitz, Kara Scannell, Aileen Graeff, Christian Sierra and Sarah Davis contributed to this report.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Starmer to raise Gaza ceasefire and UK steel tariffs in Trump meeting
Sir Keir Starmer is expected to raise the prospect of reviving ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas and the future of tariffs on British steel as he meets Donald Trump in Scotland. The Prime Minister will travel to Ayrshire, where the US president is staying at his Turnberry golf resort, for wide-ranging discussions on trade and the Middle East as international alarm grows over starvation in Gaza. The two leaders have built a rapport on the world stage despite their differing political backgrounds, with Mr Trump praising Sir Keir for doing a 'very good job' in office ahead of their talks on Monday. But humanitarian conditions in Gaza and uncertainty over US import taxes on key British goods in America threaten to complicate their bilateral meeting. Peace talks in the Middle East came to a standstill last week after Washington and Israel recalled negotiating teams from Qatar, with White House special envoy Steve Witkoff blaming Hamas for a 'lack of desire' to reach an agreement. Since then, Israel has promised military pauses in three populated areas of Gaza to allow designated UN convoys of aid to reach desperate Palestinians. But the UK, which is joining efforts to airdrop aid into the enclave and evacuate children in need of medical assistance, has said that access to supplies must be 'urgently' widened. In his talks with Mr Trump, Sir Keir will 'welcome the President's administration working with partners in Qatar and Egypt to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza', Number 10 said. 'He will discuss further with him what more can be done to secure the ceasefire urgently, bring an end to the unspeakable suffering and starvation in Gaza and free the hostages who have been held so cruelly for so long.' The leaders will also talk 'one-on-one about advancing implementation of the landmark Economic Prosperity Deal so that Brits and Americans can benefit from boosted trade links between their two countries', it said. The agreement signed at the G7 summit last month slashed trade barriers on goods from both countries. But tariffs for the steel industry, which is of key economic importance to the UK, were left to stand at 25% rather than falling to zero as originally agreed. Concerns had previously been raised that the sector could face a levy of up to 50% – the US's global rate – unless a further agreement was made by July 9, when Mr Trump said he would start implementing import taxes on America's trading partners. But that deadline has been and gone without any concrete update on the status of UK steel. Downing Street said that both sides are working 'at pace' to 'go further to deliver benefits to working people on both sides of the Atlantic' and to give UK industry 'the security it needs'. The two leaders are also expected to discuss the war in Ukraine, which Number 10 said would include 'applying pressure' on Vladimir Putin to end the invasion, before travelling on together for a private engagement in Aberdeen. It comes after Mr Trump announced he had agreed 'the biggest deal ever made' between the US and the European Union after meeting Ursula von der Leyen for high-stakes talks at Turnberry on Sunday. After a day playing golf, the US leader met the President of the EU Commission to hammer out the broad terms of an agreement that will subject the bloc to 15% tariffs on most of its goods entering America. This is lower than a 30% levy previously threatened by the US president. The agreement will include 'zero for zero' tariffs on a number of products including aircraft, some agricultural goods and certain chemicals, as well as EU purchases of US energy worth 750 billion dollars (£558 billion) over three years. Speaking to journalists on Sunday about his meeting with Sir Keir, Mr Trump said: 'We're meeting about a lot of things. We have our trade deal and it's been a great deal. 'It's good for us. It's good for them and good for us. I think the UK is very happy, they've been trying for 12 years to get it and they got it, and it's a great trade deal for both, works out very well. 'We'll be discussing that. I think we're going to be discussing a lot about Israel. 'They're very much involved in terms of wanting something to happen. 'He's doing a very good job, by the way.' Mr Trump's private trip to the UK comes ahead of a planned state visit in September.
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
New Hampshire Secretary of State details answers to Trump voter registration inquiry
New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan on Friday released an eight-page letter with detailed responses to the Trump administration's 15 questions about the state's voter registration process, including why the state rejected the request to disclose the statewide voter list. 'New Hampshire law authorizes the Secretary of State to release the statewide voter registration list in limited circumstances not applicable here,' Scanlan wrote. The Trump administration is seeking millions of names from targeted states ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Scanlan explained that state law permits his office to, 'upon request, provide a political party, political committee, or candidate for county, state, or federal office, 'a list of the name, domicile address, mailing address, town or city, voter history, and party affiliation, if any, of every registered voter in the state.'' Scanlan told Trump administration officials they were free to go community by community to get voter lists from each clerk or supervisors of the checklist, and he shared a website link to city and town clerk contacts. Before answering the Trump administration's questions, Scanlan provided three paragraphs of 'prefatory remarks' as a primer on what information he could or couldn't share. 'Regardless of the fact that election systems and assets are critical infrastructure, divulging any cybersecurity information could harm the integrity of the systems. Therefore, our responses to questions regarding database infrastructure may be limited depending on the nature of the question,' Scanlan wrote. Scanlan's letter also included a sample voter registration form and Memorandum of Understanding for Help America Vote Act implementation and enhanced data exchange for database accuracy. Trump's inquiry Questions from the Trump administration ranged from basic information for how voter registration works in New Hampshire to specific ways in which the information is confirmed, shared and managed. Here are some examples of the questions: * Describe how the statewide voter registration list is coordinated with the databases of other state agencies. And provide the name of each state database used for coordination and describe the procedures used for the coordination as well as how often the databases are coordinated with the statewide voter registration list. * Describe the process by which registrants who are ineligible to vote due to non-citizenship are identified and removed from the statewide voter registration list. * Describe the state's requirement for an individual to vote if the individual registered to vote by mail and has not previously voted in an election for federal office in the state. * Describe the verification process that election officials perform to verify the required information supplied by the registrant. And describe what happens to the registration application if the information cannot be verified. * Describe the process by which deceased registrants are identified and removed from the statewide voter registration list. Other questions asked for how the state handles voters convicted of a felony, duplicate voter registrations, security measures and how the state removes registered voters who have moved to another state. Scanlan's answers The Secretary of State's Office outlined the step-by-step processes that are used in each aspect of voter registration, providing detail at the state level all the way down to how communities manage their checklists. In terms of New Hampshire's citizen requirement, he described the new law that went into effect this year. 'The statute lays out several types of acceptable documents to prove citizenship: 'the applicant's birth certificate, passport, naturalization papers if the applicant is a naturalized citizen, or any other reasonable documentation which indicates the applicant is a United States citizen,'' Scanlan wrote. For voters who have died, Scanlan described how the communities across the state remove voters from the rolls if they died here or elsewhere. The process involves comparing official death records and how municipal clerks receive official notice of a voter's death and then remove the names locally. Most of Scanlan's answers read like a textbook or quoted New Hampshire law directly. He provided each specific statute number, leaving it up to federal officials to read further on their own. He also provided contact information for the Division of Motor Vehicles and website links for further information. To read Scanlan's letter, visit dpierce@
CBS News
17 minutes ago
- CBS News
Justice Dept. shuts down dark child abuse websites that had 120,000 members and millions of files
When FBI agents arrived outside William Spearman's home in the quiet suburb of Madison, Alabama, in November 2022, they were prepared for danger. Their search warrant was so important to the bureau that it was approved by the FBI director himself. When the agents breached Spearman's door with tactical explosives, Spearman fought back, tussling with the agents as three of his handguns remained barely out of reach. The FBI managed to handcuff and arrest Spearman, a high-value arrest, in what a top Justice Department official called "one of the most successful" prosecutions of its kind. Spearman went by the nickname "Boss" and was labeled by the Justice Department as "one of the most significant" purveyors of child sex abuse material in the world. His arrest in 2022, his guilty plea a year later and his eventual life sentence were part of an unprecedented takedown of a prodigious child abuse network. Spearman is one of at least 18 people convicted so far of leading and utilizing the dark web to share hundreds of thousands of unlawful sexually exploitative images of children. The Justice Department calls the investigation and prosecutions Operation Grayskull; it helped secure those arrests and shutter four heavily trafficked dark web sites where violent and horrific images of child sexual abuse were traded and housed. The Operation Grayskull investigation launched in 2020, when law enforcement agents noticed a spike in traffic to a dark web site suspected of hosting child abuse material. The dark web child abuse sites eventually attracted more than 120,000 members, millions of files and at least 100,000 visits in a single day, according to an FBI official who spoke with CBS News. "Even for prosecutors, it is difficult to understand how pervasive this is," said Matthew Galeotti, head of the Justice Department Criminal Division. "Because it happens on the dark web, people aren't aware of it. It's extremely troubling," he told CBS News. Spearman's case has parallels to many of the others unearthed by Operation Grayskull. Spearman was accused of helping lead a dark web site with thousands of users and members. A sentencing memo submitted to the court said it was "no wonder" that he had tried to resist the FBI, rather than surrendering. "The devices at his desk contained massive quantities of evidence proving that he was the lead administrator of Website A," the memo said. "Unsurprisingly, the defendant's devices also contained an enormous collection of images and videos depicting the rape and abuse of children." Selwyn Rosenstein was sentenced to 28 years in prison in 2022, for operating a dark website for unlawful exploitative images. Prosecutors said the platform "was not simply a website; it was a large, active community of pedophiles and (abuse material) enthusiasts. And it existed in part because of the Defendant's criminal acts." Rosenstein possessed such a large quantity of abusive images, he needed to store some on a server he used to run his business, according to the Justice Department. Speaking from a second floor conference room at Justice Department headquarters in Washington last week, Galeotti told CBS News the members of these dark web child abuse sites often "earn" membership by paying a fee, "helping moderate the site" or contributing child abuse images or material. Galeotti said, "We luckily have very sophisticated prosecutors and agents who work specifically on this kind of thing. These are people who have a more of a technical understanding." "The defendants in this case, as sadistic as they may be, are somewhat sophisticated," and make use of encryption, he added. Operation Grayskull also secured the conviction of Matthew Garrell of Raleigh, North Carolina, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for operating on a dark web site for abuse material. "Garrell engaged in an extremely complex and technologically sophisticated conspiracy that far exceeds the typical child-exploitation offenses," prosecutors said. They argued in a court filing that Garrell possessed a predator's "handbook," with "detailed instructions" for grooming children for future abuse. The takedown of dark web leaders and users also included the convictions of men from Virginia, Maryland, Indiana, Texas, Washington, Arkansas, Michigan and Oklahoma. "They were part of an online community of hundreds of thousands of people, with leadership roles rules and a common dedicated purpose" said Chris Delzotto, an acting FBI deputy assistant director. Delzotto told CBS News, "Few people would have envisioned how (child abuse materials) would permeate the internet, the way it has today." The federal investigation which uncovered and shuttered the first dark web site, also led to the closure of three others. Abbigail Beccaccio, an FBI unit chief, told CBS News. "The leadership team that operated one of the sites also operated several of the others." The Justice Department is touting the shutdown of those sites as a victory to help deter future abuse or production of unlawful images. "This is one of the most successful of all time," Galeotti said. "We dismantled four websites that have not regenerated."
