House Republicans grasp for response to demands for transparency in
Epstein case
[July 18, 2025]
By STEPHEN GROVES
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.
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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., departs a news conference
at the Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington,
Tuesday, July 15, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
“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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