Jeffrey Epstein, curse his wretched soul, might just be looking up at Capitol Hill with a smirk right now. The disgraced pedophile, dead for almost six years now, has been wreaking havoc from the grave all week. In addition to dividing MAGA and fogging up the legacies of literary giants, the files he may (or may not) have left behind have really done it now: they’ve sent the House of Representatives home.
On Monday night, Johnson insisted the House would be working “all week,” but he quickly shifted gears Tuesday morning and blamed Democrats for employing “political games,” saying: “We’re done being lectured about transparency here by the same party that orchestrated one of the most shameless, dangerous political cover-ups in the history of this country or any government on the face of planet Earth.”
It’s a tawdry pivot from Johnson’s “we should put everything out there” attitude last week—and a weird one, too. The motion to release the files is largely bipartisan, so why the pointed fingers? He also criticized his own party, lamenting that “some people seem to enjoy trying to inflict political pain on their own teammates.”
Spare the speaker a lonely thought, however: the MAGA lackey has the impossible task of bending to Donald Trump’s will–and sounding eloquent while he does it. When a reporter asked him whether the shutdown came at the request of the president or the administration, Johnson’s response was dodgy: “No. But as you all know, I speak to the president multiple times a day. Often. Always. He agrees with everything I’ve said here today.” Obsessed much?
Meanwhile, Republican Thomas Massie–who’s broken with his party before–and Ro Khanna, a Democratic congressman, are planning a maneuver that will force a House vote on releasing the Epstein files—though it’s not expected to take place until after the legislature returns from its recess… in September.
For now, the speaker wants to appease the Epstein craze by referencing the Trump administration’s decision to request grand-jury transcripts, saying “it will be a continuing and ongoing quest.” (Funnily enough, through the same department whose discreet report started this mess in the first place.) But given the legislature’s dogged chase for more disturbances, that may be fantasy. And just earlier, a House committee voted to subpoena Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former accomplice, to uncover more information.
While the House will not reconvene until September, there’s a good chance the conversation will pick right back up where it ended–and Johnson will once again have to evade some pretty obvious questions. Oh, well. I hope he enjoys his break while he can.
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