House GOP: Epstein File Push a ‘Political Exercise’ Aimed at Damaging President Trump After Democrat Shutdown Defeat

by Emmitt Barry, with reporting from Washington D.C. Bureau Staff

(Worthy News) – In the immediate aftermath of Democrats losing the budget showdown that plunged Washington into a weeks-long government shutdown, House Republicans say the Left is now scrambling for a distraction — reviving the long-dormant fight over the Jeffrey Epstein files in what GOP leaders call a transparently political maneuver to wound President Donald Trump.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said the timing is no coincidence.

“They’re doing this to go after President Trump on this theory that he has something to do with it. He does not,” Mr. Johnson said on Fox News Sunday, calling the sudden push to release the documents nothing more than a “political exercise.” He added flatly that the president has “clean hands.”

Democrats — fresh off losing the shutdown battle — are now aligning with a handful of Republican dissenters to force a vote on the issue. The effort is led by Reps. Thomas Massie, Kentucky Republican, and Ro Khanna, California Democrat, who moved the measure as soon as the government reopened.

The Epstein files have long fueled speculation about whether the late financier kept a “client list” tied to his sex-trafficking operation. Epstein died in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial, prompting widespread theories about a cover-up and powerful names he may have protected.

President Trump, who once knew Epstein socially before cutting ties in the early 2000s, has repeatedly stated he has no connection to Epstein’s crimes. Last year, as a candidate, he signaled he might support releasing the files — but after the Justice Department concluded earlier this year that there was “no incriminating client list,” he reversed course, calling the Left’s renewed interest a political trap.

Mr. Massie insists the files won’t implicate the president.

“I have never said that these files will implicate Donald Trump,” he said Sunday on ABC’s This Week. “I really don’t think that they will.”

Still, he claims the president is protecting elites: “I really think he is trying to protect a bunch of rich and powerful friends, billionaires, donors to his campaign, friends in his social circles. That is my operating theory on why he is trying so hard to keep these files closed.”

Massie has escalated tensions within the GOP by framing the vote as a loyalty test, saying it will “last longer than the Trump presidency.” President Trump has responded by endorsing Massie’s primary challenger and withdrawing support from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, once one of his staunchest allies.

Ms. Greene fired back Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union, saying Mr. Trump is distancing himself because she supports releasing the files.

“Why fight this so hard?” she asked.

If the House approves the measure, it will head to the Republican-controlled Senate, where GOP leaders warn Democrats hope to weaponize it.

“They want to make President Trump a lame duck president,” Sen. John Barrasso, Wyoming Republican, said on NBC’s Meet the Press.

Speaker Johnson underscored that Democrats had every opportunity to pursue this issue when President Biden and their party controlled both chambers of Congress.

“If they truly cared about transparency, they would have demanded these files under Biden,” Johnson said, again emphasizing that the renewed push is “a political exercise.”

Still, polls show a broad desire among Americans for more transparency — even as many conservatives point out that Democrats’ sudden enthusiasm for the Epstein files appears conveniently timed, landing just as their strategy in the shutdown collapsed and Republicans gained leverage.

Whether the vote produces clarity or simply becomes another partisan weapon remains to be seen.

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