WASHINGTON ― House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said a vote on releasing more information about Jeffrey Epstein isn’t necessary as President Donald Trump continues to struggle with the controversy surrounding the convicted sex offender who died in prison in 2019.
“My belief is we need the administration to have the space to do what it is doing. If further congressional action is necessary or appropriate, then we’ll look at that. But I don’t think we’re at that point right now,” Johnson told reporters on Monday.
After intense public pressure, including from many of his MAGA supporters, Trump called for a federal judge to release grand jury testimony related to the disgraced late financier. The move has appeased some but not all of those calling into question the circumstances surrounding Epstein’s death. Trump and many in his orbit previously suggested that Epstein was murdered in prison to cover up his ties to prominent Democrats.
Last week, a group of conservative House members derailed passage of a bill cutting $9 billion in foreign aid and public broadcasting funds for hours over the so-called Epstein files. They forced Johnson to ultimately agree to advance a nonbinding resolution, prepared by Republicans, that calls for the release of some materials from the Epstein case.
But while the recissions package clawing back spending made it to Trump’s desk, the nonbinding resolution did not. With Johnson making clear the House won’t take it up this week, the earliest the chamber could vote on it would be after Labor Day, following the annual August recess ― if at all.
Comedian and podcaster Theo Von, who is popular in the MAGA world, did not appear to take Johnson’s decision kindly. He called on the House speaker to allow a vote on a separate bipartisan bill requiring the Department of Justice to release more information about Epstein.
Democrats also criticized Johnson for seeking to bury information about Epstein.
“Speaker Johnson and Republicans wrote a toothless resolution on the Epstein files and now won’t even bring *that* up for a vote so that they can give Donald Trump more time to distract the American people from his broken promises and secrets,” Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) wrote in a post online.
The White House, meanwhile, is continuing to rage about The Wall Street Journal’s reporting that Trump allegedly sent Epstein a “bawdy” letter for his birthday in 2003. Trump and Epstein were longtime friends who partied in New York. Republicans have slammed the report, and Trump sued the outlet.
“The Wall Street Journal printed a FAKE letter, supposedly to Epstein,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don’t draw pictures. I told Rupert Murdoch it was a Scam, that he shouldn’t print this Fake Story. But he did, and now I’m going to sue his ass off, and that of his third rate newspaper.”
