The splintering of the Republican Party — particularly in the House — over Donald Trump's Jeffrey Epstein problems has gifted Democrats a rare opportunity to call the shots in recent weeks.
According to longtime GOP adviser Brendan Buck, who appeared on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Thursday, the number of Republicans who have jumped ship on Trump over releasing the Epstein files has handed Democrats leverage to put House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) in a corner.
Speaking with co-host Jonathan Lemire, Buck claimed recent events have changed the power dynamic in Congress.
"You're certainly familiar with the House of Representatives," Lemire prompted his guest. "Speaker Johnson, as we discussed last hour, sending the House home a little early to try to kick the can down the road. But it's sort of an example as to ho, at least part of the Republican party, is not going to let this go. We see some members of the GOP defy Johnson, defy Trump for voting for this measure. Give us your sense of the state of play."
"Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen committees and certainly the floor be tied up in knots on a single issue like this," Buck conceded. "You have multiple committees that don't know what to do at this point, because any amendment being offered by Democrats on this, they may lose votes."
"I think it's important that that one subpoena on DOJ was offered by a Democrat," he pointed out. "Look, Joe [Scarborough] knows this: when you're in the minority, you don't have a lot of opportunities to kind of shape the debate. And what's going on, the House is a majoritarian institution, but Democrats have absolutely struck gold, you know?"
"Set aside the obviously very serious underlying issues here, they understand that Republicans are eating themselves alive and they're helping them do it," he elaborated. "The reality is, every single one of these members on the Republican side, they absolutely need something they can latch onto. And that's why you have multiple committees all trying to get a piece of this."
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