House Republicans are so terrified of being put on record either way with a vote on the exploding Jeffrey Epstein controversy that they are now talking about ending the session early and going on summer break to avoid it, congressional reporter Jamie Dupree posted to X on Monday.
"Two GOP members of the House Rules Committee told us no rule will be produced for bills this week, all because the GOP can't figure out a path," wrote Dupree. "For those not on Capitol Hill, this is a House GOP debacle. They are so scared of votes re: Epstein that they will punt most of this week's legislative schedule and start their summer break early."
Republicans have been paralyzed over issues like this before, Dupree noted.
"I think it was two years ago that the GOP sent everyone home early because they couldn't pass funding bills," he wrote. And going further back, "In 2015, Republicans stopped work on funding bills — worried about casting votes related to the Confederate flag."
Ever since the Justice Department put out their conclusion from reviewing the files on the Epstein case that the wealthy financier and sex trafficker died by suicide as originally reported, and that there was no "client list" of rich, well-connected co-conspirators as speculated by right-wing conspiracy theorists for years, Trump's base has been fractured and in open revolt, and Democrats have been pressing their advantage, demanding a vote on releasing all files related to Epstein.
A number of Republicans have come out and said they don't believe the DOJ has been transparent about their findings, leading to speculation that Attorney General Pam Bondi could end up being a casualty of the scandal.
