WASHINGTON — It’s becoming increasingly clear to a handful of powerful MAGA congresswomen that their fight to release more Epstein files now pits them against some of the most powerful politicians in the Republican Party.
Bring it on, they say.
“Sometimes, you just have to f—ing do what you gotta f—ing do,” Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) told Raw Story at the Capitol. “Excuse my language.”
Before Congress’s August recess, there were 10 Republicans willing to publicly buck President Donald Trump and force his political lapdogs — Speaker Mike Johnson and other GOP leaders — to hold a vote on releasing details of the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, the financier, sex trafficker and longtime Trump friend who died in federal custody in August 2019.
“The women are more brave in the face of the White House,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) told Raw Story.
Massie is the lead Republican sponsor of the Epstein discharge petition, a formal mechanism that forces a vote on any measure supported by more than half the 435-person House, an effort that has made Trump and GOP leaders uneasy for months.
Their efforts to quash the move have left most Republican men neutered, but they haven’t been able to dissuade three GOP congresswomen from their demand for full disclosure — or at least as full as appropriate, given minors are involved.
‘Close to home’
Most of his victims are still alive. That doesn’t mean the judicial system and its alleged congressional enablers haven’t made them feel powerless.
“The thing that got me was these women have been fighting for 30 years for justice and still don't have it. You have people who don't want to help them, and to me, it's infuriating,” said Mace, a rape survivor herself.
“It hit close to home.”
In the ring with fellow Republicans, Mace is joined by firebrands Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). They have yet to cave.
“The truth needs to come out, and the government holds the truth,” Greene told a large crowd outside the Capitol this week, as a group of Epstein victims gathered to speak.
“All of the fault belongs to the evil people that do these things to the innocent. This is the most important fight we can wage here in Congress, is fighting for innocent people that never received justice. And the women behind me have never received justice.”
Even MTG’s Democratic critics hailed her effort.
“I thought Marjorie Taylor Greene speaking was very, very powerful in terms of a signal to other Republican congresspeople,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), co-sponsor of the discharge petition with Massie, told Raw Story.
“The tone of this was not partisan. There are partisan fights: California redistricting is a partisan fight, the president militarizing the streets [is] a partisan fight.
“This is actually an issue that can bring this country together, and, frankly, the president can get credit if he releases the files.”
Trump doesn’t want credit. Rather, he continues to reverse campaign promises to release the files, dismissing survivors as perpetuating a “hoax”.
Following the president’s demands, this week Republican leaders tried to get out in front of the issue by releasing upwards of 30,000 Epstein-related files, many of which were public already.
“I think it’s a massive win,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), who had supported the push for full disclosure, told Raw Story, adding: “I've always been pushing for the documents to be housed publicly somewhere for everyone to be able to access.”
Others panned the move.
“There's a lot of redactions. Like the flight logs, I mean, we have entire pages that are blocked out and blacked out, and I don't think those are all victims,” Boebert told Raw Story.
‘I don’t buy that’
At the Capitol, Epstein survivors — or surviving family members — concurred.
“Were you able to see some of the documents that came out last night?” Raw Story asked Sky Roberts, who lost his sister, abuse victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre, to suicide earlier this year. “Just all the black on there, all the redactions?”
“The people in these files are, like, politicians,” Roberts said. “They aren’t interns. They are very wealthy and powerful people, and it shouldn't be up to the survivors to have to release that list.”
Some GOP congressmen have now distanced themselves from the discharge petition they tried to force on party leaders, to bring a vote on the House floor.
“You're not signed on to the discharge petition anymore?” Raw Story asked Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), the day after Epstein survivors met members of Congress. “Why not?”
“I'm afraid of what the ladies told us yesterday is that they were saying that some of them could be outed publicly,” Burchett said. “I want them to remain anonymous. They don't need to be hounded by the press or people or freaks out there.”
Raw Story asked: “What do you make of your supporters and the president’s supporters saying you’re now a part of a cover-up?”
“I don’t buy that,” Burchett said.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) shares a fist-bump with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
Cover-up or not, Republican men have undeniably retreated.
“What do you make of the men kind of bailing on this?” Raw Story asked Massie. “Before recess, you guys had about 10 [supporters] and now it's the dudes who bailed?”
“The women are more brave in the face of the White House,” Massie said.
“And look at who the women are: They're supporters of Donald Trump: Nancy Mace, Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene.
“This isn't political. I know some Democrats are trying to make it political and some Republicans are trying to make it political. But our base — and even the Democrat base — are all in the same place on this.”
‘Moving pieces’
Some female Trump fans on Capitol Hill say they are giving the administration time to reverse course.
“Obviously, there's a lot of moving pieces, but we are going through them right now,” Luna said, praising the administration for its files release this week. “And there has been some stuff that was not previously up there.”
While Luna went from endorsing the discharge petition in July to removing her endorsement, she says she isn’t judging GOP colleagues on the other side of the scandal.
“Every member has a right to do what they feel is best, but I think the files have been released. So if there's more, we'll find out in the investigation,” Luna said.
“It sounded like you were saying that you could still support the discharge petition — just not now?” Raw Story asked.
“If there's stuff that hasn't been released that we need and then we're getting blocked, yeah,” Luna said. “But I'm not going to do that without … looking through all the documents myself.”
Like Trump, Luna campaigned on releasing the Epstein files. But she remains dubious of Democrats who she accuses of piling on late.
“Why now?” Luna asked. "It just seems there’s a little bit more to the story than a lot of people are saying.”
‘Burn the system to the ground’
Congress just returned from summer recess, with the federal government slated to run out of funding at the end of the month.
Still, some say there's no bigger issue than righting Epstein’s wrongs.
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) departs in tears from a meeting with Jeffrey Epstein survivors. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
“This might not be the biggest issue in America right now, but it is the issue everybody can agree on,” Massie said. “Honestly, I think a lot of people are going to be embarrassed on both sides of the aisle.
“Powerful political figures will be embarrassed, but that's not a reason to not do this, to avoid embarrassment for somebody.
“Again, I don't think Jeffrey Epstein was particularly partisan in his sexual malfeasance … he committed many crimes. It's basically a group of people that don't need to belong to a party, because they don't report to the law when they do.”
What’s universally agreed upon is the Epstein saga isn’t going anywhere.
Raw Story asked Mace: “Before you guys left town for August recess, there were about 10 of you supporting the discharge petition. Right now, it seems like all the men are trying to bail. Is that just the old boys club at work?”
Mace smirked.
“I hope that more will join us,” she said. “We need to burn the system to the ground and start over.
“I'll do anything to help the Epstein victims. I'll do anything I can in my power to help them.”
