House Republicans have effectively “been paralyzed” out of fear of inter-party dissent on Jeffrey Epstein, and have left key GOP priorities on the cutting room floor ahead of a congressional recess, CNN’s Lauren Fox noted Tuesday.
“You have some conservatives who are very frustrated with the fact that they feel like this is a campaign promise,” Fox said.
“They feel like this is the president putting them in a position where they are up against their loyalty to Donald Trump, and also their loyalty to people who put them in office because they're still getting a number of calls.”
That interparty dissent largely comes from Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who filed a legislative measure to force a vote on compelling the Justice Department to release its files on Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender alleged to have maintained a blackmail operation targeting powerful figures.
Five other House Republicans have signed on to Massie’s measure, and according to Massie, he also has the support of enough House Democrats to reach the required 218-signature threshold to force a vote on the measure.
Fear of being forced to vote on releasing more Epstein files led to the House Rules Committee adjourning early Monday, leaving a GOP-priority immigration bill, on the cutting room floor, and without time to be taken up before Congress goes on recess.
“What you're seeing right now is the House has essentially been paralyzed; the House Rules Committee, which is required for pushing through legislation that will only get Republican votes on the House floor, is essentially stalled out because Democrats were going to push Republicans for yet another vote on releasing the Epstein files,” Fox said.
“Rather than take that vote and potentially face backlash from their constituents, Republicans decided to adjourn that meeting and they have not returned. That means that a series of immigration bills that they were supposed to be voting on this week ahead of the August recess aren't going to come up.”
Epstein continues to plague Trump and GOP leadership, largely a creation of Trump’s own making given that he pledged to release files on the disgraced financier ahead of his 2024 victory, only to disappoint his base with a DOJ memo earlier this month shutting the case down.
“All of the Republican agenda meanwhile has stalled out in this week before congressional recess,” Fox said.
“...That just shows you how much pressure Republicans are under and how much they do not want to continue to be talking about this, even though there are some conservatives who keep arguing they want more information.”
