Epstein files fight leads US House Republicans to start summer break a day early
Democrats, some Republicans push for Epstein document release
Bondi asks federal judge to unseal grand jury transcripts
By David Morgan
The move averts a push by Democrats and some Republicans for a vote on a bipartisan resolution to require the Justice Department and FBI to release all government documents on Epstein, who died by suicide in prison in 2019.
'What we refuse to do is participate in another one of the Democrats' political games. This is a serious matter. We are not going to let them use this as a political battering ram,' House Speaker Mike Johnson, of Louisiana, told reporters.
Many of President Donald Trump's supporters who embraced a slew of conspiracy theories surrounding Epstein saw their hopes raised when the administration vowed to release a slew of new documents on the case, only to backtrack and say it had concluded that there was no evidence to support the theories.
That opened a rare breach between Trump and parts of his Make America Great Again base of support. Majorities of Americans and Trump's Republicans say they believed the government is hiding details on the case, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling.
On Monday, Democrats sought to use a House Rules Committee meeting to force a vote on the Epstein resolution introduced by Republican Representative Thomas Massie and Democratic Representative Ro Khanna. The panel serves as gatekeeper for floor-bound legislation. Republicans instead suspended the hearing, preventing the panel from approving bills for floor consideration this week.
The House had been expected to hold the week's final votes on Thursday. But House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, the chamber's No. 2 Republican, told reporters there would be votes on Tuesday and Wednesday for less important legislation considered under suspension of the rules.
A subcommittee of the House Oversight Committee voted to subpoena Ghislaine Maxwell, a British socialite and Epstein's longtime girlfriend, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted of sex trafficking in 2021.
Under mounting pressure from Trump supporters for the release of material, Attorney General Pam Bondi has asked a federal judge to unseal grand jury transcripts in the cases of both Epstein and Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 of five federal charges related to her role in Epstein's alleged sexual abuse of underage girls.
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The Star
4 hours ago
- The Star
Trump's Tariffs Must Sow the Seeds for a National Reawakening
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This doctrine does not merely target trade imbalances; it punishes defiance. South Africa is now paying the price for standing on principle, particularly for its posture on Palestine and its landmark case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. It is clear, painfully so, that South Africa is being economically strangled not for what it trades, but for what it believes. Some Western analysts, ever keen to defend the status quo, will dispute this. They will search for economic rationality in an act that is blatantly political. Let them continue their intellectual gymnastics. This moment calls for clarity, not politeness. The truth is that Trump's worldview is transactional and tribal, and in that logic, South Africa has become collateral. That South Africa is seen as an irritant in Washington's new world order is not coincidental; it is structural. And let it be said without fear, Trump's policy on South Africa is influenced not only by economic calculations but by the mythologies peddled by actors like AfriForum and Elon Musk, who have exported the lie of white genocide into America's political bloodstream. But this is not the time for victimhood, nor is it the moment for diplomatic lamentation. It is time for South Africa to do some difficult thinking and embrace a new, muscular pragmatism . Diplomatic efforts, however noble, are unlikely to change Trump's position. Minister Parks Tau and his diplomatic team may work tirelessly, but they are facing a political machine that does not respond to nuance. Trump's narrative is fixed , and in that narrative, South Africa is an unfriendly trading partner whose tariffs harm American interests. He argues, correctly or not, that South African import duties and market access protocols are unfavourable to US goods. That argument, however flawed, resonates with his domestic base, and therefore it will stand. The United States will not blink , and it will not backtrack . Thus, it is not sufficient for South Africa to hope against hope; it must respond. Minister Parks Tau, trade envoys, and industrial leaders must now do the hard intellectual and strategic labour of repositioning the country's economic posture. Nowhere is this urgency more pressing than in the automotive sector, a critical node of South Africa's manufacturing ecosystem. This sector is not only a source of direct jobs; it sustains a complex web of downstream industries, from component manufacturing and logistics to retail and after-market services. It is here that the 30 per cent tariff will hit hardest, and it is here that innovation, not inertia, must be summoned . The sector must accept that the American market , for the foreseeable future, has lost ground. The time has come for South Africa to pivot decisively toward other markets, especially those aligned with its economic diplomacy ambitions. The first option lies in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the single largest integrated market on the continent , and the largest globally by number of countries. With over 1.3 billion people and a combined GDP exceeding $3.4 trillion, the AfCFTA offers South Africa a natural and politically friendly trading space. Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, presents high-value demand for affordable, durable automotive products, especially among its emerging middle classes and youthful populations. Research shows that more than 60 per cent of the region's population is under the age of 25, representing a long-term demand curve that is not speculative, but empirically grounded. Yet, South African companies have been slow to leverage this opportunity. There remains an unhealthy fog of Afro-pessimism and the lingering delusion of South African exceptionalism. These intellectual blindfolds must be cast aside . Africa is not a dumping ground; it is a destination for growt h. The automotive industry must shift from waiting for trade to come to it and instead begin creating strategic partnerships in East, West, and Central Africa. This includes setting up joint ventures, service hubs, and low-cost satellite assembly plants across regional economic communities. The second and equally strategic option lies in a new industrial partnership with China. The presence and popularity of Chinese-made vehicles in the South African domestic market has reached a saturation point. They are competitively priced, technologically competent, and now represent a serious challenge to traditional brands. But if left unmanaged, this trend could lead to the hollowing out of South Africa's manufacturing base. 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The automotive sector, in particular, must abandon old comfort zones and rise to this moment with the courage of imagination and the rigour of strategy. What is at stake is more than exports; it is the future of South Africa's industrial identity. * Zamikhaya Maseti is a Political Economy Analyst with a Magister Philosophiae (M. PHIL) in South African Politics and Political Economy from the University of Port Elizabeth (UPE), now known as the Nelson Mandela University (NMU). ** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL, Independent Media or The African.
eNCA
4 hours ago
- eNCA
Trump, EU chief seek deal in transatlantic tariffs standoff
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Daily Maverick
5 hours ago
- Daily Maverick
Epsteingate and the dirty old men preying on young girls — how language helps them get away with abuse
'It was known generally that those incidents happened on the island, and nothing was done about it,' she said. 'It was shoved under the carpet. What good would it have done for me if I had reported it? I knew nothing would have been done about it, because of previous experience on the island. It was an act that everybody on the island knew was happening, and nobody wanted to talk about it and say it was wrong and deal with it.' (New Zealand Herald, 5 October 2004) At the first reading, the above quote might appear to be related to notorious child abuser and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein's secrets from the grave about the doings of powerful old men and their penchant for underage girls. But the 2004 New Zealand publication date reveals it is about another sensational case of child rape by older, powerful men on the tiny Pitcairn Island in the Pacific Ocean. Culture as excuse In 1790, mutineers on the HMS Bounty found themselves on the island among the Polynesian inhabitants. Over the years a community developed, shaped by the control and power of men over women. Blending their own law with some Polynesian cultural beliefs, the men began to justify and normalise rape and domination over women. But the original cultural mores concerned relationships between adolescents, not exploitation by adult men. A 1999 investigation by Gail Cox, a UK police official (the island is a 'British Overseas Territory'), exposed endemic, intergenerational child abuse and rape by the men of the community. Cox interviewed women about sexual abuse involving children as young as five. This led to criminal charges, and in 2004 a British court, sitting on Pitcairn, found six men guilty of sexual offences against underage girls that occurred between 1964 and 1999. The defendants had all argued that the island's culture was influenced by its part-Polynesian roots and that girls had matured earlier and therefore had 'tempted' the men. Predators everywhere Epstein, US President Donald Trump's good friend of more than 15 years, had his private island playboy paradise, Little Saint James in the US Virgin Islands. His jet, known as the Lolita Express by those in the know, transported many of the world's richest and most powerful men to the island, some innocently, but others to have sex with underage girls. This went on for years. These girls were procured by Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's apparent 'girlfriend' and daughter of newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell. When the girls and women first spoke out, they were threatened, silenced, humiliated and marginalised. Prince Andrew eventually settled a case with Virginia Giuffre, who accused him of abusing her at Epstein's New York apartment. Bringing Buckingham Palace into disrepute, Randy Andy was stripped of his stripes and medals. It took a Miami Herald journalist, Julie K Brown, a woman, to give voice to Giuffre (who died by suicide earlier this year), Michelle Licata, Courtney Wild and Jena-Lisa Jones – all survivors of Epstein's abuse. In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty to one charge of procuring for prostitution a girl below the age of 18 and signed a plea deal. He was arrested again on sex trafficking charges in 2019, but was found dead in his cell soon afterwards. Language is a weapon Men like these believe they can get away with the abuse of children and women because the language we use to describe the crime, even in court matters, feeds into old and dangerous stereotypes. Keith Tuffin and Melanie Simons of Massey University in New Zealand examined the language used in the Pitcairn case and how this contributed to a lack of accountability. 'Language used in sexual assault trial judgments commonly works to reduce the level of responsibility of the perpetrator; for example, describing him as being under the influence of alcohol or portraying sexual assault as erotic, rather than violent,' noted the authors. A 2005 study of judicial sentencing in child abuse cases found similar results. Another study analysed the narratives of a convicted rapist and found 'a discourse of ambiguity about the nonconsensual nature of his crimes', which 'suggested the victim was partly to blame, having not been sufficiently clear in her rejection of sex'. All around us, this instinct to look away when old-men rape plays out. There are millions of women around the world who report cases and are not believed, or are threatened because they have reported the crimes. As US author Sandra Newman has written, in the early 20th century researchers like Havelock Ellis believed that all male sexuality was violent and predatory, and so it was to be expected that they would behave accordingly. This suggests preposterously that men are mere victims of their hormones and atavistic impulses, and external factors are always to blame for amoral behaviour. Personal accountability is seldom taken. How to stop this? Expose the paedophile rings. Jeffrey Epstein might be dead, but his secrets are not. DM This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.
