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Republicans eye efforts to quiet Epstein uproar but can't quash it

11 7
19.07.2025

House Republicans who were at odds all week over the Trump administration’s handling of Jeffrey Epstein disclosures are holding their breaths to see if the tsunami of criticism from their base over the matter is finally subsiding.

GOP members on the House Rules Committee voted in favor of a resolution directing Attorney General Pam Bondi to release more materials relating to the late wealthy and connected sex offender. President Trump relented and directed Bondi to request grand jury testimony from the Epstein case be unsealed. And Republicans are banding together to dismiss and criticize the Wall Street Journal’s report about a “bawdy” birthday letter Trump sent more than two decades ago.

But none of those developments have the weight to fully put the Epstein matter to rest.

The Rules Committee resolution, for starters, does not have any legal weight to force the Trump administration to release any materials. Instead, it calls for the disclosure of some information while giving Bondi the ability to withhold some portions.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), one of the Rules panel members who voted to advance the resolution, dismissed that criticism — arguing that a binding bill would go nowhere in the Senate and do little to force release of materials even if Trump did sign it. It is better, he said, to have at least a unified statement from........

© The Hill