Days after calling on President Donald Trump’s administration to be more transparent about the contents of the Epstein files, House Speaker Mike Johnson sent the House of Representatives on an early vacation to avoid doing exactly that.
On Tuesday, the speaker announced that he would be ending the week early and beginning the House’s month-long recess — which was scheduled to begin on Friday — on Wednesday. The move postpones votes on several motions related to Democratic efforts to compel Congress to approve the release of government files related to the crimes and death of convicted sex offender — and alleged trafficker to the rich and powerful — Jeffrey Epstein. The votes will not take place until the House returns in September, giving Trump and his administration plenty of time to attempt to reassert control over their supporters as they continue to revolt over the administration’s refusal to release the files.
“My belief is we need the administration to have the space to do what it is doing, and 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, because we agree with the president,” Johnson told CNN on Tuesday.
The speaker claimed he made the decision because he and Republicans are “not going to play political games with this.”
Last week — as the MAGA faithful were roiled with anger and betrayal over the administration burying the Epstein files — Johnson broke with the White House’s demands that everyone simply stop talking about Epstein, telling right-wing influencer Benny Johnson that Republicans “should put everything out there and let the people decide it.”
The mild call for increased honesty from the administration whose members spent years clamoring for answers about Epstein has apparently been abandoned.
Rep. Jaime Raskin (D-Md.) wrote Tuesday on X that “Speaker Johnson would rather cancel all votes & hearings than simply have a vote on bipartisan legislation demanding release of the Epstein files, something he, Trump & Bondi have been demanding for months! A pathetic new low in political cowardice & legislative malpractice.”
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Even some Republican lawmakers are growing frustrated with Trump and the GOP leadership’s lack of direction and backtracking in regards to Epstein. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) wrote on Monday that “If you tell the base of people, who support you, of deep state treasonous crimes, election interference, blackmail, and rich powerful elite evil cabals, then you must take down every enemy of The People. If not, the base will turn and there’s no going back. Dangling bits of red meat no longer satisfies. They want the whole steak dinner and will accept nothing else.”
Speaker Johnson, however, has no plans to act as the server.
From Rolling Stone US
