Trump-Epstein controversy fractures GOP
The battle over the Jeffrey Epstein files that’s severed the MAGA faithful is also surfacing on Capitol Hill, where GOP lawmakers are torn over President Trump’s refusal to release government records related to the deceased financier and sex offender.
The debate is fracturing the House GOP conference, with hardline conservatives — ardent MAGA allies — echoing the base’s demands to make the documents public, while other Republicans are joining Trump’s calls to “not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about.”
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) stunned Washington on Tuesday when — after initially deferring to the administration — he sided squarely with the first group, urging the Justice Department to release all the files related to Epstein in its possession.
“It’s a very delicate subject, but we should put everything out there and let the people decide,” Johnson said in an interview with the conservative podcaster Benny Johnson.
But his remarks have only thrown a brighter spotlight on the administration’s refusal to release the files, and the conservative frustrations that followed. By defying Trump, Johnson also risks a backlash from the president, who was crucial to Johnson’s rise to the Speakership and has helped him survive tough internal battles since then.
Just a few hours later, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who has seemingly delighted in being a thorn on the president's side, said he would try to use a long-shot procedural gambit known as a discharge petition to force a vote on requiring the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) cosponsored the resolution.
Democrats are only happy to exploit the GOP divisions. They’re embracing the Epstein saga — and hoping to foster public disillusionment with Trump — by pressing the administration to disclose the files, and using a variety of procedural tools to try to force a vote on the matter.
“I can't say that I'm not enjoying watching it,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell (Mich.), the head of the Democrats’ messaging arm.
Fueling the schadenfreude, many of the same right-wing figures who had inflamed the conspiracy theories surrounding Epstein’s connections to powerful global “elites” are now in top positions of the administration — and have abandoned the same narratives they once championed.
"The Republicans are victims of their own conspiracy theories,” said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.). “And this conspiracy is biting them right in the ass.”
The converging dynamics are making one thing certain: The Epstein controversy is unlikely to subside any time soon, despite Trump’s direct orders to drop the matter. Voters, some lawmakers said, are weighing in.
“I’m unhappy about it; my constituents are unhappy about it,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) told The Hill Tuesday morning. “I got four or five calls from personal friends, which is kind of unusual about any issue. Even family members were upset, didn’t understand. Some of my firemen buddies were upset about it, and I am, too.”
In a sign of the growing discontent with the current situation, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, called for a special counsel to be appointed to oversee the Epstein matter, joining vocal MAGA figures in making the request.
She floated former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) for the job.
“Of course we want answers. Nobody is satisfied with what has been received, or lack thereof. No one is satisfied with the rollout of this,” Boebert said during another interview with conservative podcaster Benny Johnson. “I think moving forward, we need a special counsel. That has got to happen. There has to be a special investigation into this if we aren’t going to be provided information.”
Some lawmakers have suggested using the power of Congress to push forward on the issue, with House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) suggesting that the panel’s chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino.
“It's quite a squeeze play they're in, after creating this huge hullaballoo about it and now just wanting to sweep the whole thing under the rug,” Raskin said.
Jordan, for his part, answered a peppering of reporter questions on Tuesday about those officials and the Epstein case by repeatedly saying: “I have confidence in the president and his team.”
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), who is leading a task force in the House Oversight Committee on the declassification of federal secrets, expressed frustration with the decision, but suggested the next step would not come from Congress.
“I've done literally everything that I can do from a legislative perspective, and so unfortunately, I'm not at the DOJ — although, if I was at the DOJ, that would be a glorious time,” Luna said.
But Luna added that the administration is “aware of the want and need for transparency, so we'll see what ends up happening.”
The lingering controversy is putting Republicans between a rock and a hard place. They don’t want to dismiss the concerns of their loyal base that’s hungry for retribution against the rich and powerful — but desperately want to avoid angering the president or criticizing his favored appointees like Bondi.
Those circumstances were on full display Tuesday afternoon, when all Republicans — despite many of them wanting the files to be released — opposed a Democrat-led effort to trigger a vote on an amendment forcing the disclosure of the documents. Democrats urged their GOP colleagues to torpedo a procedural vote that would have prompted a subsequent vote on publishing the materials, but all Republicans let the referendum go forward.
“As predicted. Completely full of shit,” Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) wrote on X after the vote. “@RepMTG votes to keep Epstein Files buried. *After posting nonsense tweet saying she wants them released.”
In the House Rules Committee Monday afternoon, an effort to stage a vote on the same amendment similarly failed in an 8-4 vote. Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), however, notably crossed the aisle in support of holding a vote on the measure.
Some Republicans are, similarly, choosing their words carefully as they try to address the pressure of the base and Trump.
“Me personally, you know, I would release every file, I release every picture — with the exception, I'd make sure that all of the victims’ names are redacted,” Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) said. But he added: “I want to be crystal clear, I absolutely trust President Trump and Pam Bondi and Kash Patel. This is their call.”
And the Speaker, too, stressed his allegiance to the president.
“I do trust the president,” Johnson said. “I know his heart and his head is in the right place. I don’t question that at all. And I’m convinced they’re going to sort this out.”
