Good strategy. Time to end the fiasco that Donald Trump's own Department of Justice created.
At the beginning of Trump's new term, Attorney General Pam Bondi made the Jeffrey Epstein files a personal project. She insisted that the files had been covered up by the previous administration, promised to expose them, and even staged a White House event with "influencers" complete with binders to claim that she'd released everything.
As it turned out, Bondi had only released documents already made public, and then Democrats and the Protection Racket Media (sorry for the redundancy) pounced. House Democrats demanded the release of all documents while Trump angrily scolded his own team for continuing to talk about it. Matters reached a boil during and immediately after the shutdown, and House Democrats successfully filed a discharge petition for a floor vote this week -- while some leaked misleading documents attempting to paint Trump as part of Epstein's depravities.
Trump had enough this weekend. "House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files," Trump wrote on Truth Social, because we've all wasted enough time on them:
As I said on Friday night aboard Air Force One to the Fake News Media, House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party, including our recent Victory on the Democrat “Shutdown.” The Department of Justice has already turned over tens of thousands of pages to the Public on “Epstein,” are looking at various Democrat operatives (Bill Clinton, Reid Hoffman, Larry Summers, etc.) and their relationship to Epstein, and the House Oversight Committee can have whatever they are legally entitled to, I DON’T CARE! All I do care about is that Republicans get BACK ON POINT, which is the Economy, “Affordability” (where we are winning BIG!), our Victory on reducing Inflation from the highest level in History to practically nothing, bringing down prices for the American People, delivering Historic Tax Cuts, gaining Trillions of Dollars of Investment into America (A RECORD!), the rebuilding of our Military, securing our Border, deporting Criminal Illegal Aliens, ending Men in Women’s Sports, stopping Transgender for Everyone, and so much more! Nobody cared about Jeffrey Epstein when he was alive and, if the Democrats had anything, they would have released it before our Landslide Election Victory. Some “members” of the Republican Party are being “used,” and we can’t let that happen. Let’s start talking about the Republican Party’s Record Setting Achievements, and not fall into the Epstein “TRAP,” which is actually a curse on the Democrats, not us. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!
Trump offered his response to the speculation about his desire to suppress the files:
This is clearly obvious to everyone involved, including House Democrats who manipulated redactions and leaks to target Trump. Joe Biden's DoJ had access to the Epstein files for four years. They and other Democrats conducted a no-holds-barred lawfare campaign against Trump to derail any hopes for another run at the presidency. Alvin Bragg even got DoJ assistance to concoct an absurd claim of 34 felony acts around ledger entries dealing with NDA payments to Stormy Daniels. Jack Smith ran two different federal prosecutions against Trump, neither of which ended up going anywhere.
Does anyone really think that the Biden regency and its allies in New York and Georgia would have bothered with that if they had Epstein dirt on Trump? Come on, man.
The problem for Trump, though, is that it was his own administration that promised to release all of the Epstein material in the first place. The discharge petition now forces House Republicans to go on the record about that release, and the Associated Press makes it pretty clear that most of them are not interested in fighting the issue when it comes to a floor vote:
“There could be 100 or more” votes from Republicans, said Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., among the lawmakers discussing the legislation on Sunday news show appearances. “I’m hoping to get a veto-proof majority on this legislation when it comes up for a vote.”
Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., introduced a discharge petition in July to force a vote on their bill. That is a rarely successful tool that allows a majority of members to bypass House leadership and force a floor vote.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had panned the discharge petition effort and sent members home for their August recess when the GOP’s legislative agenda was upended in the clamoring for an Epstein vote. Democrats also contend the seating of Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz., was stalled to delay her becoming the 218th member to sign the petition and gain the threshold needed to force a vote. She became the 218th signature moments after taking the oath of office last week.
Johnson seems to expect the House will decisively back the Epstein bill.
“We’ll just get this done and move it on. There’s nothing to hide,” adding that the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has been releasing “far more information than the discharge petition, their little gambit.”
That's the best way out of a months-long mess that Bondi created. Time to release it all, with full and unredacted disclosures, so that the actual truth can finally be seen ... and we can move onto other, more pressing matters.
For a pretty good breakdown about the emails leaked so far, Nate the Lawyer lays out what they actually mean. There's a reason Sunny Hostin warned The View that these help Trump more than they hurt them. Speaking of Nate, however, pray for him -- he had to undergo emergency surgery this weekend for a brain tumor. Drop by his channel and wish him the best.
Editor’s Note: The mainstream media isn't interested in the facts; they're only interested in attacking the president. Help us continue to get to the bottom of stories like the Jeffrey Epstein files by supporting our truth-seeking journalism today.
Join Hot Air VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership!
Join the conversation as a VIP Member