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Within hours of Donald Trump signing the Epstein Files Transparency Act into law, Republican senators were on the ground to issue a pointed message to the US attorney general, Pam Bondi: don’t bury these documents.
The bill’s passage marked a rare moment of bipartisan support in an otherwise ideologically fractured Congress as it now sets a 30-day deadline for the release of Department of Justice files related to the actions of convicted sex offender of minors and financier Jeffrey Epstein, dubbed by a judge “the most infamous pedophile in American history”.
It also marked a rare defeat for Trump, whose own contacts with Epstein have been the subject of intense speculation, along with many other powerful figures who associated with the sex trafficker who killed himself in 2019. Trump had originally been against the passage of the bill, before switching in the face of a rebellion in his own party.
The bill passed the House of Representatives with 427 votes and sailed through the Senate by unanimous consent, a level of cross party support rarely seen. Rather than celebrating, many Republican lawmakers spent the week bracing for what they fear may come: a slow drip of information, justified one way or another by Bondi’s justice department.
“People who feel very strongly about this will feel like they’ve been duped” if the justice department claims “we can’t release anything because of an active investigation,” said Republican senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. “I don’t think that that will help calm the suspicions many have harbored for a long while on this.”
The anxiety stems from the Trump administration’s earlier resistance to transparency, which included months of dismissing public demands – and even insults for those calling for release – before reversing course this week when its passage became inevitable.
Now, with Bondi opening investigations into exclusively Democrats mentioned in Epstein’s correspondence, Republicans are watching closely for signs the department might use those probes as a reason to redact or withhold materials as they are now part of an ongoing investigation.
© 2015 Mutual Fund Observer. All rights reserved.
© 2015 Mutual Fund Observer. All rights reserved. Powered by Vanilla
Comments
as an excuse to avoid releasing Epstein documents in a timely fashion.
Just another step in Trump's months-long obfuscation campaign.
Hahaha!
The Dems are not saviors. But they still have a soul which could help to guide the Ship of State. I don't have to be "woke" to see this massive, vital, essential difference between the two.
BOTH parties have actively assisted in the genocide of Palestinians. Lots to be forgiven for. But at root bottom, the Dems are still trying.
Yes, for sure.
it just takes gop voters to be be distracted by anyone under more suspicion than trump. and that information flow is under multiple control barriers.
an extremely low bar for rightwing media and MAGA pols.
i fully expect MTG to pull the focus anywhere but trump.