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Epstein files paralyse US House for the second week, political battles stall legislative business
To shield President Donald Trump from criticism related to the so-called Epstein files, Republican lawmakers have paralysed the House of Representatives for the second week straight.
Republican lawmakers have refused to convene proceedings in the House so they don't have to take up motions moved by Democrats related to the Epstein Files.
The Epstein files refer to the purported evidence related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. For years, far-right figures, including Trump's son Donald Trump Jr and current FBI chief Kash Patel, peddled theories that Epstein's crimes were covered up and he was killed to save powerful people. They said that the Epstein files had a 'client list' that contained names of powerful people who were clients of Epstein's illicit sex business.
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Earlier this month, however, the Trump administration announced that there was no foul play in Epstein's death and that there was no client list. That led to an outrage among a section of Trump's extremist Maga base. Those outraged accused the administration of a cover-up.
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Democrats have joined the criticism and have sought to pressure the administration to release any and all documents related to Epstein. Republicans controlling the House have refused to convene to avoid taking up such motion and prevent Trump from facing embarrassment.
Democrats press Trump with Epstein saga
As Democrats have sought votes on the Epstein saga, Republicans have shut the proceedings for the rest of the session to avoid taking the vote. However, Democrats are still counting on support from a small bunch of Republican rebels to force a vote.
The Hill has reported that Republican Representative Thomas Massie and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna have pledged to force a vote on their Epstein-release bill through the discharge petition process.
If Massie and Khanna can get 218 House members to sign on, which would mean that all Democratic representatives and all the Republicans who have already co-sponsored the bill would need to sign, they can back the Republican House leadership into a corner and force a vote.
However, any vote is unlikely to take place until at least after the House returns after the recess in September. By then, the Republicans hope that the outrage over Epstein files would have died down.
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Hindustan Times
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NDTV
40 minutes ago
- NDTV
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Yet he's struggled to stamp out the embers of a political crisis that could become a full-on conflagration. The Republican president's supporters want the government to release secret files about Epstein, who authorities say killed himself in his New York jail cell six years ago while awaiting trial for sex trafficking. They believe him to be the nexus of a dark web of powerful people who abused underage girls. Administration officials who once stoked conspiracy theories now insist there's nothing more to disclose, a stance that has stirred skepticism because of Trump's former friendship with Epstein. Trump has repeatedly denied prior knowledge of Epstein's crimes and claimed he cut off their relationship long ago. For a president skilled at manipulating the media and controlling the Republican Party, it has been the most challenging test of his ability to shift the conversation in his second term. Landing in Scotland offered no refuge for Trump. 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Ty Cobb, the lawyer who served as the White House's point person, said the president "never felt exposed" because "he thought he had a legitimate gripe." The situation is different this time now that the Justice Department has been stocked with loyalists. "The people that he has to get mad at are basically his people as opposed to his inquisitors and adversaries," Cobb said. In fact, Trump's own officials are the most responsible for bringing the Epstein case back to the forefront. FBI Director Kash Patel and his deputy, Dan Bongino, regularly stoked conspiracy theories about Epstein before assuming their current jobs, floating the idea the government had covered up incriminating and compelling information that needed to be brought to light. "Put on your big boy pants and let us know who the pedophiles are," Patel said in a 2023 podcast. Attorney General Pam Bondi played a key role, too. She intimated in a Fox News Channel interview in February that an Epstein "client list" was sitting on her desk for review — she would later say she was referring to the Epstein files more generally — and greeted far-right influencers with binders of records from the case that consisted largely of information in the public domain. Tensions spiked earlier this month when the FBI and the Justice Department, in an unsigned two-page letter, said that no client list existed, that the evidence was clear Epstein had killed himself and that no additional records from the case would be released to the public. It was a seeming backtrack on the administration's stated commitment to transparency. Amid a fierce backlash from Trump's base and influential conservative personalities, Bongino and Bondi squabbled openly in a tense White House meeting. Since then, the Trump administration has scrambled to appear transparent, including by seeking the unsealing of grand jury transcripts in the case — though it's hardly clear that courts would grant that request or that those records include any eye-catching details anyway. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has taken the unusual step of interviewing the imprisoned Maxwell over the course of two days at a courthouse in Tallahassee, Florida, where her lawyer said she would "always testify truthfully." All the while, Trump and his allies have resurfaced the Russia investigation as a rallying cry for a political base that has otherwise been frustrated by the Epstein saga. 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India Today
an hour ago
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Trump arrives in Scotland for golf and bilateral talks ahead of EU trade deal
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