“I DON’T CARE!” he said. “All I do care about is that Republicans get BACK ON POINT.”
However, those pushing for the files to be released are now concerned that new criminal investigations ordered by Trump into Epstein’s links with Clinton and others will severely limit whatever files Congress is “entitled” to receive from the Department of Justice and the FBI.
Republican congressman Thomas Massie has led the push to release the so-called Epstein files.Credit: AP
“If they have ongoing investigations in certain areas, those documents can’t be released, so this might be a big smokescreen … as a last-ditch effort to prevent the release of the Epstein files,” Thomas Massie, a Republican congressman from Kentucky, told ABC’s This Week.
Massie said he was confident a “deluge” of Republicans – 100 or more – would support the bill to compel the files’ release. “I’m hoping to get a veto-proof majority on this legislation,” he said, referring to the two-thirds majority needed (in both chambers) to override a presidential veto.
Republican House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson also said there was nothing to hide and Democrats were simply playing a political game. “We’re going to dispense with that this week,” he told Fox News.
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But the White House had been pressuring Republicans not to support the bill and to remove their names from a petition to force the vote, which is expected as soon as this week. Releasing the Epstein files is an article of faith for many in the Make America Great Again movement.
The issue has contributed to a spectacular falling out between Trump and Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who was once among his most vocal and loyal supporters. Greene also broke ranks on other matters, including healthcare.
Trump’s pivot to disclosure came as a group of Epstein’s victims and accusers released an advertisement calling for the files to be released. Annie Farmer, who testified at the trial of Epstein’s associate and former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, said the persistent secrecy around the documents caused real angst.
“The people who shielded Epstein have had decades of protection. Survivors have had decades of unanswered questions. Sharing the remaining documents helps correct that imbalance,” Farmer said.
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Trump’s Department of Justice and FBI outraged many MAGA supporters when they put out a memo in July saying no further disclosures were appropriate or warranted.
The memo said there was no Epstein “client list”, and no credible evidence Epstein blackmailed people. “We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties,” the FBI said at the time.
Epstein was convicted in 2008 of soliciting a minor for prostitution and served 13 months in jail, with day release, as part of a plea deal. He died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges. Maxwell was convicted and is serving a 20-year sentence.
