Republicans eye efforts to quiet Epstein uproar but can't quash it
House Republicans who were at odds all week over the Trump administration’s handling of Jeffrey Epstein disclosures are holding their breaths to see if the tsunami of criticism from their base over the matter is finally subsiding.
GOP members on the House Rules Committee voted in favor of a resolution directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to release more materials relating to the late wealthy and connected sex offender. President Trump relented and directed Bondi to request grand jury testimony from the Epstein case be unsealed. And Republicans are banding together to dismiss and criticize the Wall Street Journal’s report about a “bawdy” birthday letter Trump sent more than two decades ago.
But none of those developments have the weight to fully put the Epstein matter to rest.
The Rules Committee resolution, for starters, does not have any legal weight to force the Trump administration to release any materials. Instead, it calls for the disclosure of some information while giving Bondi the ability to withhold some portions.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), one of the Rules panel members who voted to advance the resolution, dismissed that criticism — arguing that a binding bill would go nowhere in the Senate and do little to force release of materials even if Trump did sign it. It is better, he said, to have at least a unified statement from Republicans, and set the stage for other potential oversight.
“If they don't” release the Epstein materials, Roy said, "then we have the powers [in] Congress to then do whatever Congress can do, which is what — hold hearings, have people come testify, have oversight, power of the purse. Those are our actual powers.”
But it is unclear if Republicans will even make that unified statement. House GOP leaders have not committed to bring hold a floor vote on the resolution and refusing to do so could spark outcry from GOP lawmakers who are most incensed by the Epstein saga and are pushing to see the information.
“We’ll determine what happens with all that,” Johnson said when asked by The Hill if he will put the resolution on the floor. “There’s a lot developing. The president made his statements this afternoon, he’s asked the attorney general to release the information, I’m certain that she will, and everybody can make their own decisions about that.”
Pressed on the matter, he similarly demurred, saying: “We will see how all this develops.”
“We’re in line with the White House, there’s no daylight between us,” he added. “We want transparency, and I think that will be delivered for the people.”
It’s possible, then, that the resolution serves as little else but political cover for the Republican members of the Rules Committee, who were lambasted for days after voting down a Democratic amendment in support of releasing more Epstein material earlier in the week. The panel’s members delayed final passage on the first Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts to public broadcasting and foreign aid as they negotiated a committee vote on the GOP Epstein resolution.
Another Epstein-release effort threatens to keep the issue alive in Congress, though.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) have promised to file a discharge petition to try to circumvent GOP leadership and force a vote on their Epstein disclosures bill. They would need to reach 218 signatures — and already have 14 other cosponsors on the measure, including 10 other Republicans.
The petition can open as soon as next week, but there is a waiting period before it could force floor action — meaning the matter that has sharply split Trump’s base could still be a live issue weeks from now, when Congress returns from the upcoming August recess.
While the discharge petition lingers, some who have called for more disclosures are praising Trump’s move to direct Bondi to request that courts unseal testimony from the Epstein case.
“This is the right course of action. Thank you @AGPamBondi and @realDonaldTrump,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) wrote on X in response to Trump’s announcement.
But others note that testimony transcripts are just a fraction of the materials that could give new insights into other rich and powerful people accused of participating in the abuse of young girls, as Epstein did.
Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), a former federal prosecutor, made that case on X late Thursday night, shortly after Trump’s announcement, telling Bondi: “Nice try.”
“What about videos, photographs and other recordings? What about FBI 302’s (witness interviews)? What about texts and emails? That’s where the evidence about Trump and others will be,” Goldman wrote. “Grand jury testimony will only relate to Epstein and Maxwell.”
But as the Epstein outrage saga dragged on, Trump got a boost — albeit a counterintuitive one — with the release of a Wall Street Journal article outlining his past connections to Epstein, complete with a description of a “bawdy” 50th birthday letter that had a doodle of a naked woman.
“Enigmas never age,” Trump’s birthday message to Epstein reportedly said, ending: “May every day be another wonderful secret.”
The report clearly infuriated the president, who vigorously denied the report and asserted he “never wrote a picture in my life.” He threatened to sue the Wall Street Journal and its owner, Rupert Murdoch.
But the report also had the effect of unifying Republicans in bashing the report — even those who had broken with Trump over releasing more Epstein material.
Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) called the report “nonsense.”
“If President Trump had committed real crimes, Democrats wouldn’t have needed to make up stuff for their lawfare schemes. If this were true, it would have been used,” Davison posted on X Thursday night.
Even Elon Musk — who helped turbocharge the Epstein saga last month when he said Trump was mentioned in the files — came to the president’s defense, declaring that “the letter sounds bogus.”
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said that with the week’s developments, the public outrage will “eventually” die down.
“But I don’t think totally,” Burchett added.