The News
President Donald Trump’s attempts to divert Washington away from his administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case are backfiring.
The number of House Republicans backing a bipartisan proposal intended to force Attorney General Pam Bondi to release records on the accused sex trafficker quickly grew to 10 in just two days. As Trump’s party began breaking in greater numbers from his calls to move on from the case, the House froze in place as GOP leaders tried to head off more Epstein votes.
Across the Capitol, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., released a report making public flagged banking transactions linked to Epstein. And Senate Republicans were forced to block an attempt by Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., to align the chamber behind releasing files on the notorious financier, who died in 2019 while awaiting trial.
Even more ominous than Thursday’s developments was Republicans’ private acknowledgment that Trump’s attempts to deem the subject “boring” and a “hoax” are not landing in a party that has harped on the Epstein case for years.
“I’d love to see whatever there is to see. I think there are good things that would come from more public awareness on the issue. I don’t know exactly how this plays out,” said one Senate Republican who supports more disclosure from Bondi’s DOJ.
As to whether Trump had quieted the issue, the senator answered: “No.”
Congressional GOP leaders are still trying to quiet their internal divisions over Epstein as Rep. Thomas Massie’s, R-Ky., bipartisan legislation comes closer to a forced floor vote in the House, against the wishes of Speaker Mike Johnson. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., blocked Gallego’s separate, nonbinding legislation in the Senate, arguing Democrats didn’t care about Epstein when Joe Biden was president.
It’s still not clear if Thursday’s Epstein issues would imperil a bill clawing back more than $9 billion in federal spending — a top Trump priority — even as it delayed its passage. But beyond this week, the ramifications of Republican dissatisfaction with the president could prove significant.
Even before Trump derided his supporters who want more information about Epstein as “weaklings,” Johnson carved out a rare bit of daylight from the president by saying he agrees “with the sentiment that we need to put it out there.”
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said that Bondi’s DOJ needs to, at a minimum, release Epstein’s autopsy and his flight logs, as well as details on who else might be swept up in a potential federal prosecution that never advanced after Epstein’s death.
Roy told Semafor leaving a meeting with Rules Committee Republicans Thursday he was considering signing onto Massie’s resolution.
Yet party leaders don’t want to give airtime to anything binding; the Epstein resolution they’re considering in the House would be symbolic with regard to DOJ’s actions.
“I trust President Trump. He’s made it very clear to the attorney general, to Pam Bondi: Release all the credible evidence. That’s all I need to know. I’ve got to work on the things that the American people actually care about,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told Semafor.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said that he doesn’t see House-style momentum on his side of the Capitol for more action on Epstein.
But even those who trust Bondi’s handling of the situation, which has made national headlines for nearly two weeks after the DOJ sought to declare the matter closed, recognize that the Epstein case now has a life of its own.
“The public seems pretty interested in it,” said Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla. “I’m comfortable that Pam will do everything she can.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday that Trump would not recommend a special prosecutor for the Epstein case.
She did not get into Trump’s discussions with the House speaker but said: “The president has said, if the attorney general and the Department of Justice and the FBI have any more credible evidence in regards to Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes, they should put that forward.”
Know More
All it takes is a Google search to find plenty of recent comments from Republicans — including Trump — urging the release of files related to Epstein, the subject of years-long conservative scrutiny and widely held theories that he trafficked young women to powerful men.
Trump himself once socialized with Epstein, as Democrats frequently reminded the GOP this week, though there is no evidence so far of a “client list,” as Bondi referred to earlier this year on Fox News. (Gawker published Epstein’s address book in 2015.)
“I’m as curious as everybody else. I have no idea what’s going [on] with the Epstein files … these things have been bopping around inside the FBI, Department of Justice for a long time. And who knows what’s in them, what’s been taken out,” said Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis.
“That’d be my primary concern: What are we really getting?” he asked. “It’s just like the JFK files. I’ve always said, ‘Do we really think we’re getting all of those?’”
Others were less charitable. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who is retiring, said on local radio this week that he disagrees with Trump’s recent dismissal of Epstein: “I don’t think human trafficking of young teenage girls being exploited by billionaires on a private island is boring.”
Some Republicans suggested a more targeted approach, rather than a mass release of Epstein files in the DOJ’s possession, given the sensitivity of some of the information that could be included.
“For me, as a former prosecutor, I just don’t know [how] they’re looking at it. I don’t know what could be disclosed, what couldn’t be disclosed,” said Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Mo.
“A lot of people are curious. I’m curious,” Schmitt added of Trump. “If there’s something credible to release, he’d be supportive of that. I’d be supportive of that. I don’t know what it is.”
The View From Democrats
Wyden said he was presenting his report to the Senate Finance Committee but doubted that the panel’s Republicans would do anything with it. He said he supported those in the House who were pushing for a vote on Epstein but that his focus is on investigations.
“They’re not doing a follow-the-money investigation, which is where we’re different,” Wyden told Semafor. “There is no way you can run this gigantic sex-trafficking operation, close to 5,000 wire transfers, without a ton of money.”
Room for Disagreement
Even as he raised questions about the Epstein case, Ron Johnson said he understood Trump’s attempts to minimize the case’s importance. The president said Wednesday he doesn’t even want the support of those still fixated on it.
“There are far more important things to talk about, I don’t doubt that at all. I understand people’s curiosity, I don’t think we’re going to get the truth on all kinds of things,” the senator said.
Burgess and Eleanor’s View
The Epstein case is no longer just a headache for Trump; it’s now affecting his party’s congressional majorities.
And Democrats are moving to exploit GOP divisions, which could get ugly if Republicans don’t come up with a game plan. Republicans don’t want to repeatedly vote down Epstein measures but are now looking at that very distinct possibility all the way up until August recess.
It’s fair to say, also, that Trump’s handling of the issue has puzzled Republicans on Capitol Hill. But at the same time, many party lawmakers have invited public questions about Epstein — and are now reaping what they sowed.
Notable
- Punchbowl first reported the leadership’s efforts to quell the House fervor.
- Wyden laid out his investigation to the New York Times.
- The Washington Post documented Trump’s long and public friendship with Epstein in 2019.
Shelby Talcott contributed.