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 and unable to bring up anything but the most non-controversial bills, 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 who was under pressure from the president not to allow any Epstein votes, voiced hopes that the break would provide 'space' for a resolution.
But Democrats accused the majority Republicans of running scared of their own voters, many of whom have been demanding more transparency. 'Donald Trump, for quite a while now, has been exaggerating and exploiting this case and making a big deal out of it,' Jim McGovern, the top Democrat on the powerful Rules Committee, told MSNBC. 'He wins the presidency, the Republicans control both chambers and, all of a sudden, we're told forget about it.'
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.
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. Trump's ties to Epstein are extensive. The pair were pictured partying together during a 15-year friendship before they fell out in 2004 over a property deal, and when Trump subsequently denounced his former ally.—AFP
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 perhaps the biggest political pressure of his career, Trump has authorized Bondi to release 'credible' 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 in full swing, 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. -- AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Kuwait Times
an hour ago
- Kuwait Times
Mexico launches lottery to support migrants in US
Mexico launches lottery to support migrants in US MEXICO CITY: Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Friday announced a lottery to raise money to support migrants caught up in US President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown. Nearly 12 million Mexicans live in the United States, where Trump has pursued a tough anti-immigration policy since his return to the White House in January. The lottery 'is dedicated to our migrant brothers and sisters,' said Sheinbaum, who has pledged all necessary consular assistance to Mexicans affected by Trump's crackdown. 'The money left after the prizes will be used to strengthen all our support for migrants in the United States through our consulates,' she said at her morning news conference. Tickets for the lottery, with a prize pot of nearly 425 million pesos ($23 million), feature a heart surrounded by ears of corn and agave plants with the words 'Mexico with an M for migrant.' The draw will be held on September 15, when Mexico celebrates the start of the war of independence against Spain in 1810. On Wednesday, Sheinbaum said that nearly 75,000 Mexicans had decided to voluntarily come home from the United States since Trump began his second term in office. The Mexican leader has criticized US immigration raids to detain undocumented foreigners, especially in Los Angeles, which is home to a large Mexican community. — AFP
Arab Times
6 hours ago
- Arab Times
Women in legislatures across the US fight for ‘potty parity'
WASHINGTON, July 26, (AP): For female state lawmakers in Kentucky, choosing when to go to the bathroom has long required careful calculation. There are only two bathroom stalls for women on the third floor of the Kentucky Statehouse, where the House and Senate chambers are located. Female legislators - 41 of the 138 member Legislature - needing a reprieve during a lengthy floor session have to weigh the risk of missing an important debate or a critical vote. None of their male colleagues face the same dilemma because, of course, multiple men's bathrooms are available. The Legislature even installed speakers in the men's bathrooms to broadcast the chamber's events so they don't miss anything important. In a pinch, House Speaker David Osborne allows women to use his single stall bathroom in the chamber, but even that attracts long lines. "You get the message very quickly: This place was not really built for us,' said Rep. Lisa Willner, a Democrat from Louisville, reflecting on the photos of former lawmakers, predominantly male, that line her office. The issue of potty parity may seem comic, but its impact runs deeper than uncomfortably full bladders, said Kathryn Anthony, professor emerita at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's School of Architecture. "It's absolutely critical because the built environment reflects our culture and reflects our population,' said Anthony, who has testified on the issue before Congress. "And if you have an environment that is designed for half the population but forgets about the other half, you have a group of disenfranchised people and disadvantaged people.' There is hope for Kentucky's lady legislators seeking more chamber potties. A $300 million renovation of the 155-year-old Capitol - scheduled for completion by 2028 at the soonest - aims to create more women's restrooms and end Kentucky's bathroom disparity. The Bluegrass State is among the last to add bathrooms to aging statehouses that were built when female legislators were not a consideration. In the $392 million renovation of the Georgia Capitol, expanding bathroom access is a priority, said Gerald Pilgrim, chief of staff with the state's Building Authority. It will introduce female facilities on the building's fourth floor, where the public galleries are located, and will add more bathrooms throughout to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. "We know there are not enough bathrooms,' he said. There's no federal law requiring bathroom access for all genders in public buildings. Some 20 states have statutes prescribing how many washrooms buildings must have, but historical buildings - such as statehouses - are often exempt. Over the years, as the makeup of state governments has changed, statehouses have added bathrooms for women. When Tennessee's Capitol opened in 1859, the architects designed only one restroom - for men only - situated on the ground floor. According to legislative librarian Eddie Weeks, the toilet could only be "flushed' when enough rainwater had been collected. "The room was famously described as 'a stench in the nostrils of decency,'' Weeks said in an email. Today, Tennessee's Capitol has a female bathroom located between the Senate and House chambers. It's in a cramped hall under a staircase, sparking comparisons to Harry Potter's cupboard bedroom, and it contains just two stalls. The men also just have one bathroom on the same floor, but it has three urinals and three stalls. Democratic Rep. Aftyn Behn, who was elected in 2023, said she wasn't aware of the disparity in facilities until contacted by The Associated Press. "I've apparently accepted that waiting in line for a two-stall closet under the Senate balcony is just part of the job,' she said. "I had to fight to get elected to a legislature that ranks dead last for female representation, and now I get to squeeze into a space that feels like it was designed by someone who thought women didn't exist -- or at least didn't have bladders,' Behn said. The Maryland State House is the country's oldest state capitol in continuous legislative use, operational since the late 1700s. Archivists say its bathroom facilities were initially intended for white men only because desegregation laws were still in place. Women's restrooms were added after 1922, but they were insufficient for the rising number of women elected to office. Delegate Pauline Menes complained about the issue so much that House Speaker Thomas Lowe appointed her chair of the "Ladies Rest Room Committee,' and presented her with a fur covered toilet seat in front of her colleagues in 1972. She launched the women's caucus the following year. It wasn't until 2019 that House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones, the first woman to secure the top position, ordered the addition of more women's restrooms along with a gender-neutral bathroom and a nursing room for mothers in the Lowe House Office Building. As more women were elected nationwide in the 20th century, some found creative workarounds. In Nebraska's unicameral Legislature, female senators didn't get a dedicated restroom until 1988, when a facility was added in the chamber's cloakroom. There had previously been a single restroom in the senate lounge, and Sen. Shirley Marsh, who served for some 16 years, would ask a State Patrol trooper to guard the door while she used it, said Brandon Metzler, the Legislature's clerk. In Colorado, female House representatives and staff were so happy to have a restroom added in the chamber's hallway in 1987 that they hung a plaque to honor then-state Rep. Arie Taylor, the state's first Black woman legislator, who pushed for the facility. The plaque, now inside a women's bathroom in the Capitol, reads: "Once here beneath the golden dome if nature made a call, we'd have to scramble from our seats and dash across the hall ... Then Arie took the mike once more to push an urge organic, no longer do we fret and squirm or cross our legs in panic.' The poem concludes: "In mem'ry of you, Arie (may you never be forgot), from this day forth we'll call that room the Taylor Chamber Pot.' New Mexico Democratic state Rep. Liz Thomson recalled missing votes in the House during her first year in office in 2013 because there was no women's restroom in the chamber's lounge. An increase in female lawmakers - New Mexico elected the largest female majority Legislature in U.S. history in 2024 - helped raise awareness of the issue, she said. "It seems kind of like fluff, but it really isn't,' she said. "To me, it really talks about respect and inclusion.' The issue is not exclusive to statehouses. In the U.S. Capitol, the first restroom for congresswomen didn't open until 1962. While a facility was made available for female U.S. Senators in 1992, it wasn't until 2011 that the House chamber opened a bathroom to women lawmakers. Jeannette Rankin of Montana was the first woman elected to a congressional seat. That happened in 1916. Willner insists that knowing the Kentucky Capitol wasn't designed for women gives her extra impetus to stand up and make herself heard. "This building was not designed for me," she said. "Well, guess what? I'm here.'
Kuwait News Agency
a day ago
- Kuwait News Agency
Trump regrets withdrawal of US delegation from Gaza peace talks
WASHINGTON, July 25 (KUNA) -- US President Donald J. Trump said the withdrawal of US mediators from the talks on truce in Gaza Strip was regrettable. Speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday, he blamed the Palestinian movement Hamas for what he called lack of desire to reach a ceasefire-hostage release deal with Israel. He recalled his earlier statement that the talks on release of the last 10 or 20 hostages would be the toughest. President Trump made the comments one day after US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff stated that the Trump administration decided to bring home its team from the ceasefire talks in Doha, Qatar, for consultation. (end)
