California Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna forced a vote in the House Rules Committee on an amendment that would have forced the entire House of Representatives to vote on whether to release the files on sex offender and suspected blackmailer Jeffrey Epstein. The vote failed 5-7, with all four Democrats in favor and Ralph Norman of South Carolina the sole Republican to join them. In other words, only one Republican on the House Rules Committee voted for the “full” release of the Epstein files Monday night.
Norman has served in Congress since 2017. He just so happens to have the highest freedom score of all the Republicans who voted. His 86 percent cumulative freedom score in The New American’s Freedom Index is respectable. His voting pattern improved significantly over the last two sessions, during which he notched scores in the 90s.
The Republicans who voted against the release were North Carolina’s Virginia Foxx (Freedom Index score, 67 percent); Minnesota’s Michelle Fischbach (Freedom Index score, 76 percent), Indiana’s Erin Houchin (Freedom Index score, 60 percent), New York’s Nicholas A. Langworthy (Freedom Index score, 62 percent), Georgia’s Austin Scott (Freedom Index score, 63 percent); Virginia’s H. Morgan Griffith (Freedom Index score, 76 percent); and Georgia’s Brian Jack, who was elected for the first time in 2024. Texas’ Chip Roy, the other Republican on the committee, didn’t show up for the vote.
Whose Side Are You On?
Khanna said the ultimate goal was to get a vote on the House floor that would show which side everyone is on. He told MSNBC Monday night:
That’s really what this Epstein file issue has become. It’s not just about knowing who’s being protected — the rich and the powerful — in terms of who had interaction with Jeffrey Epstein. It’s the sense that people have that the government is too beholden certain interests who have their thumb on the scale and that they’re not working for ordinary people.
Khanna went on to say that the Democrats want to make sure “full justice” prevails, a laughable notion considering that Democrats made no such moves during the Biden years. Democrats are taking a politically expedient position in this saga, and it wouldn’t be happening if the Trump administration’s attempt to sweep the whole thing under the rug didn’t stir up great ire among the MAGA faithful.
Disaffected Voters
In the meantime, people close to Trump are issuing public comments suggesting the administration is feeling the pressure. Trump’s daughter-in-law and former co-chair of the Republican National Committee, Lara Trump, told conservative podcaster Benny Johnson that “there will probably be more coming on this.” Johnson is among the gaggle of MAGA media voices to express gross dissatisfaction with the Trump’s administration’s attempt to close the Epstein case. Other influential voices include Tucker Carlson, Charlie Kirk, Steve Bannon, and Candace Owens. Lara Trump told Johnson:
I believe that there will probably be more coming on this. And I believe anything that they are able to release that doesn’t, you know, damage any witnesses or anyone underage or anything like that, I believe they’ll probably try to get out sooner rather than later. Because they hear it and they understand it.… To everyone out there that’s all worked up about it, there’s no great plot to keep this information away. I believe that it’s been slow rolled for reasons we’ll understand down the line.
Lara Trump also told Johnson that the president does “hear all the noise” his supporters are making about Epstein and wants to “set things right.” Time will tell what that means.
Benny Johnson also spoke to House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) in an episode released Tuesday. The speaker said he wanted to see the Epstein files released. He said:
I’m for transparency. We’re intellectually consistent on this. Reagan used to tell us we should trust the American people. I believe in that principle. I know President Trump does as well. And I trust him.… It’s a very delicate subject but we should put everything out there and let the people decide it.
Speaker Johnson also said that Attorney General Pam Bondi needs to come forward and untangle the confusion her comments has created, specifically regarding what she did or did not have on her desk when she told Fox News in February “it’s sitting on my desk.”
The List
Meanwhile, former Epstein lawyer Alan Dershowitz penned an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday saying the FBI knows who the “clients” were. Dershowitz has also said he also knows who they are. While there is no precise “client list,” Dershowitz said, “the FBI interviewed alleged victims who named several ‘clients.’” He said the courts have ordered those names sealed. He added that they don’t include “any current officeholders” but the names “should be disclosed.” Dershowitz said the media should file legal petitions “for the release of all names and information so the public can draw its own conclusions.”
Dershowitz also sought to dispel several prevailing theories.
First, he said, the speculation of “incriminating videos taken by hidden cameras in Epstein’s guest bedrooms” was news to him. “I am not aware of video cameras in guest bedrooms,” he added.
He also reinforced the official narrative that his former client did kill himself — with a caveat. “What isn’t clear is whether he was assisted by jail personnel. That seems likely to me, based on the evidence of allegedly broken cameras, transfer of his cellmate and the absence of guards during relevant time periods,” he said.
Conspiracy Theories?
And finally, Dershowitz expressed robust confidence that his client “never worked for any intelligence agency.” He specifically tackled the “conspiracy theory” that Epstein worked for a foreign intelligence agency. He said:
If he had, he would surely have told me and his other lawyers, who would have used that information to get him a better deal. (He wasn’t satisfied with the so-called sweetheart deal he got, which required him to spend 1½ years in a local jail and register as a sex offender.) My sources in Israel have confirmed to me that he had no connection to Israeli intelligence. That false story — recently peddled by Tucker Carlson — probably emanated from credible allegations that Robert Maxwell (1923-91), father of Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, worked with the Mossad.
Dershowitz also brought up the Trump-Epstein connection. He acknowledged that the two men knew each other, but the relationship ended after Trump banned Epstein from Mar-a-Lago. “I have seen nothing that would suggest anything improper or even questionable by Mr. Trump,” he concluded.
Release the Files
If the government releases everything but the porn, as promised, the American people wouldn’t have to try and decode whether Epstein’s former attorney is telling lies, truth, or a mixture.
The recent Epstein flareup started June 7, when the Department of Justice and FBI released a memo concluding that Epstein indeed killed himself, that there is no client list, and that there is no “credible evidence” that he blackmailed powerful people. The DOJ also released an 11-hour, supposedly unedited, prison video as part of an effort to convince the American people of this incredulous story. The public erupted with outrage and cried coverup. The Trump administration has since been trying, albeit poorly, to assuage its fervent base. The Epstein saga is a test of trust. And so far, the Trump administration has failed.
