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House GOP Grasp for Epstein Response 07/18 06:11
WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Republicans were grasping late Thursday to
formulate a response to the Trump administration's handling of records in the
Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case, ultimately putting forward a resolution
that carries no legal weight but nodded to the growing demand for greater
transparency.
The House resolution, which could potentially be voted on next week, will do
practically nothing to force the Justice Department to release more records in
the case. Still, it showed how backlash from the Republican base is putting
pressure on the Trump administration and roiling GOP lawmakers.
The House was held up for hours Thursday from final consideration of
President Donald Trump's request for about $9 billion in government funding
cuts because GOP leaders were trying to respond to demands from their own ranks
that they weigh in on the Epstein files. In the late evening they settled on
the resolution as an attempt to simultaneously placate calls from the far-right
for greater transparency and satisfy Trump, who has called the issue a "hoax"
that his supporters should forget about.
Yet the House resolution was the latest demonstration of how practically no
one is moving on from Attorney General Pam Bondi's promises to publicly release
documents related to Epstein. Since he was found dead in his New York jail cell
in August 2019 following his arrest on sex trafficking charges, the
well-connected financier has loomed large among conservatives and conspiracy
theorists who have now lashed out at Trump and Bondi for declining to release
more files in the case.
"The House Republicans are for transparency, and they're looking for a way
to say that they agree with the White House. We agree with the president.
Everything he said about that, all the credible evidence should come out,"
House Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday afternoon.
Democrats vehemently decried the resolution's lack of force. They have
advanced their own legislation, with support from nine Republicans, that would
require the Justice Department to release more information on the case.
Rep. Jim McGovern, who led the Democrats' debate against the Republican
resolution Thursday night, called it a "glorified press release" and "a fig
leaf so they can move on from this issue."
Under pressure from his own GOP members, Johnson had to demonstrate action
on the Epstein files or risk having Republicans support the Democratic measures
that would force the release of nearly all documents.
"The American people simply need to know the truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth," House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said at a news
conference. "Democrats didn't put this into the public domain. The conspiracy
theory provocateur-in-chief Donald Trump is the one, along with his extreme
MAGA Republican associates, who put this whole thing into the public domain for
years. And now they are reaping what they have sown."
Still, Democrats, who hold minorities in both chambers, have relished the
opportunity to make Republicans repeatedly block their attempts to force the
Justice Department to release the documents.
Trump in recent years has suggested he would release more information about
the investigation into Epstein, especially amid speculation over a supposed
list of Epstein's clients.
In February, the Justice Department released some government documents
regarding the case, but there were no new revelations. After a months-long
review of additional evidence, the department earlier this month released a
video meant to prove that Epstein killed himself, but said no other files
related to the case would be made public.
A White House spokeswoman said Thursday that Trump would not recommend a
special counsel in the case. But later Thursday, the president said he had
asked Bondi to seek the release of testimony from grand jury proceedings in the
case.
Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, said that process would likely only
produce limited information, but added that it showed that "the president is
hearing the American people."
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