Jeffrey Epstein continues to haunt the Republicans. The Speaker of the House of Representatives Johnson – who last week urged the Department of Justice to release the investigation into the now deceased financier – is now making sure to stop a quick vote on releasing the same documents.
The Chamber would, according to the regular schedule, work for the rest of the week before taking summer vacation. But now the Speaker has decided to send the politicians home already after Wednesday's planned votes on other issues. He says he is doing it to stop "political play" from the Democrats and "give the White House space" to release the information deemed necessary themselves.
To hear Maxwell
The message about an early summer break comes just hours after the Department of Justice wants to interrogate Epstein's former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of helping the financier to sexually exploit underage girls.
If Maxwell "has information about someone who has committed a crime, the FBI and the Department of Justice will listen to what she has to say," writes Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in a post on X.
Contact with Maxwell's lawyers was seen as part of the Department of Justice's attempt to appear transparent after harsh criticism from parts of Trump's voter base over a previous decision not to release more documents in the Epstein investigation.
Would expose elite
The dissatisfaction has its basis in the Maga movement's expectations that documents from Epstein would reveal names from the Democrats' leadership and the US liberal elite. But even Donald Trump has been identified as a person "in Epstein's circles", and the President has both tried to get his supporters to forget the whole story and urged that the documents be released.
Epstein, who took his life in a prison cell in New York in 2019 while awaiting trial, exploited hundreds of minors sexually over more than a decade and targeted vulnerable girls as young as 14, according to the authorities.
He would not have been able to do this without the help of Maxwell, his long-time partner, according to the prosecutors. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022.
Martin Yngve/TT
Timeline: The Maga conflict over Jeffrey Epstein
TT
July 2019: Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein is charged with human trafficking in New York, accused of exploiting dozens of underage girls. Shortly thereafter, he is found dead in his cell. According to the coroner, the cause of death is suicide.
August 2019: Donald Trump accuses Bill and Hillary Clinton of being involved in Epstein's death. Maga accounts on social media spread information that liberal celebrities participated in the billionaire's abuse.
January 2024: Court documents that identify people in Epstein's circle are released. Among the names are Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, but neither of them is accused of any crime.
February 2025: Fox News asks Attorney General Pam Bondi if she will release a notorious "client list", with names of people involved in Epstein's abuse. Bondi replies that the list is on her desk. Later, she will say that she referred to court documents about Epstein, not the list.
July 2025: The Department of Justice says that Epstein did not have a client list and that no more documents related to the investigation will be released. Media personalities on the right are furious. The Wall Street Journal publishes a "dirty" letter that Trump allegedly sent to Jeffrey Epstein on his 50th birthday in 2003, whereupon Trump sues the newspaper and the owner Rupert Murdoch for nearly 100 billion kronor.
