Epstein files controversy consuming Capitol Hill has fueled less fire at first lawmaker town halls of summer recess

CNN

a day ago

The Jeffrey Epstein files saga at times all but ground Capitol Hill to a halt last month — driving a wedge between Republicans in the House as Democrats went on offense to press President Donald Trump's Justice Department to release more investigative material.
But since returning to their districts for summer recess, lawmakers aren't hearing much about Epstein at public town hall meetings they've hosted so far.
The debate that's dominated Washington in recent weeks didn't come up at all in some town halls Republican and Democratic House members have held — including a raucous event Thursday hosted by Wisconsin GOP Rep. Bryan Steil and two more mild-mannered affairs held by Wyoming Republican Rep. Harriet Hageman. During others, it's been the topic of just one or two questions.
In Wisconsin on Thursday, Rep. Mark Pocan — a Democrat who hosted a town hall in Prairie du Chien, in neighboring Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden's district — brought up Epstein himself, as part of a response to a question about whether Trump might declare martial law and cancel elections.
'It's a step too far to say you're going to release something and then say, 'No, there's nothing there to look at,'' he said.
Only one questioner raised the topic of Epstein — and she did so to call it a distraction.
Pocan kept his comments focused largely on the Republican tax and cuts spending bill that Trump signed into law on July Fourth — repeatedly warning that cuts to Medicaid could gut Wisconsin's public health insurance programs and force the state to spend tax dollars filling holes left by the federal government.
The Democratic congressman said afterward that's why he mostly avoided talking about Epstein.
'I keep it to economics. I'm an economic, progressive populist. I think that's how most people make decisions when they go to elections. That's how Donald Trump won the election. That's why Donald Trump's doing poor in the polls,' he said.
The woman who'd brought up Epstein, Krista Brown, a 38-year-old stay-at-home mother from Viroqua, said she has bigger concerns than Epstein — such as whether steep cuts in staffing at the Department of Education will delay action on a Title IX complaint she'd submitted on behalf of her children, or whether National Weather Service offices will be staffed.
'It has more to do with the things that people need as a foundation than it does about arguing over things that the administration wants us to spend our oxygen on. I'm just not interested in that,' Brown said.
'When you live rural, you care about who's going to plow your goddamn roads — when it's going to get plowed, if the buses can get through, how cold it is, if the weather's going to be reported,' she said. 'That's what matters. And the rest is just going to float away, because pretty soon it's going to get so hard in real life that there's not even going to be time to talk about that.'
The relative lack of focus on Epstein at town halls reflects the broader priorities of Americans. A recent CNN poll conducted by SSRS found that the economy and immigration-related concerns are the issues Americans consider most important. The poll also found increased Democratic attention to government spending, concerns about separation of powers and the rule of law, and Trump himself.
The amount of information the federal government has released on the Epstein case was an issue that didn't rise to prominence, with just one respondent mentioning it as the most important problem.
Still, even if Epstein isn't Americans' top priority, half of respondents said they are dissatisfied with the amount of information released about the Epstein case after the Justice Department released a memo saying there is no evidence the convicted sex offender kept a so-called client list or was murdered. That includes 56% of Democrats, 52% of independents and 40% of Republicans.
Democrats, in search of an advantage against Trump and administration officials who pledged prior to taking office to release Epstein-related files, have sought to force the issue. In the Senate this week, ahead of its own recess, Democrats are using an arcane procedural tool to try to force the Justice Department to release all of the files related to Epstein, including audio, video and any other relevant documents.
Republican leadership, meanwhile, is eager to stay away from the topic of Epstein.
House Speaker Mike Johnson cut legislative business short and sent members home early last week to avoid being forced to hold votes on releasing Epstein-related files.
The National Republican Congressional Committee, the House GOP's campaign arm, encouraged House Republicans in a memo to use the August recess to focus on selling Trump's agenda.
'With the One Big Beautiful Bill signed into law just a few weeks ago, this is a critical opportunity to continue to define how this legislation will help every voter and push back on Democrat fearmongering,' the NRCC memo said.
Some House Republicans who have held town halls have been asked about the Epstein files.
Utah GOP Rep. Mike Kennedy compared the unreleased Epstein files to 'a festering oil-infected wound with pus underneath' in response to a question about whether he would vote in favor of releasing the documents during a virtual town hall last week.
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.
As Republican Rep. William Timmons of South Carolina fielded questions at a telephone town hall last week, one caller shared his 'outrage' over the Epstein files – asking why the House adjourned 'when this hasn't been dealt with.'
'If there's a group of pedophiles out there who are just getting away with it, this is an outrage, and I don't care who they are. I don't care if they're the president of the United States,' the caller said.
Timmons responded that 'there is evil in this world, and we have to protect the innocent, so we need to get to the bottom of it.' 'The president and the attorney general are doing the work necessary to release all of the information,' he said.
'The Republican Congress should not be attacking the president,' the GOP lawmaker said. 'The president has earned our trust, has earned the right for us to defer to him on issues at the executive branch.'
But other issues have dominated town halls so far this summer — including the GOP's 'big, beautiful bill,' border security and deportations and federal funding cuts.
At a Hageman town hall earlier this week, Jane Sanderson, 75, of Worland, who voted for the congresswoman, asked her why the Department of Government Efficiency's spending cuts hadn't put a dent in the United States' national debt.
Timmons, the South Carolina congressman, was asked about health care, tariffs and aviation safety. Trump's golf habits came up as often as Epstein.
At the same time Pocan held court in Prairie du Chien, Steil, a three-hour drive away in Elkhorn, was accused of doing Trump's bidding too frequently.
'President Trump seems to run Southeast Wisconsin through you,' one audience member told him.
Steil faced criticism over the Trump administration's treatment of undocumented immigrants. He was shouted down as he defended Trump's implementation of tariffs on imports from a host of trading partners. And the town hall ended amid shouting after he began to answer a question about starvation in Gaza — an issue that is splintering the right, as Trump pushes Israel to address the humanitarian crisis as its military actions there continue.
'To me, the easy answer to address this crisis is for Hamas to surrender and release the hostages. That ends the war tomorrow,' Steil said, in a comment that was met with a mix of cheers and shouts of disagreement. 'Israel was unfairly, unjustly attacked, their civilians were killed and kidnapped by Hamas terrorists.'
CNN's Veronica Stracqualursi, Sarah Davis, Jenna Monnin and Betul Tuncer contributed to this report.