Internal fury over the House GOP’s Jeffrey Epstein crisis is still swirling as President Trump faces an all-out revolt from his biggest supporters on Capitol Hill.
The rebellion this week stunned White House officials and GOP leaders — and, according to Republicans involved in the talks, it’s currently set to continue the moment they return from August recess. Even as members high-tailed out of town Wednesday, several Oversight Committee Republicans joined with Democrats to force a subpoena to the Department of Justice for its entire trove of Epstein documents — a major blow to Trump and GOP leaders.
“People are going to move on this regardless,” said a Republican with direct knowledge of the internal talks this week. “The bill is going to come due.”
There’s also intense frustration among rank-and-file members that Democrats successfully used the Epstein case to attack House Republicans, who struggled through the crisis this week.
“Democrats smelled blood in the water,” the Republican added. “And they caught us flat-footed.”
White House officials know they have a problem.
Trump did speak to Rules Committee Republicans — who were at the center of the protest over Epstein this week — in the Oval Office on Tuesday night. The president didn’t specifically address the Epstein crisis or the chaos of the week. But several people in the room were doubtful the mess is going away.
The Rules Committee will be back in the hot seat when lawmakers return in September. Kentucky GOP Rep. Thomas Massie’s discharge petition to force a vote on his bipartisan Epstein bill will be back in the spotlight then — and could hit the House floor.
For now, most Rules Committee Republicans are dead set on not helping Speaker Mike Johnson kill Massie’s discharge petition in committee, to keep it from ever getting a floor vote, according to four people granted anonymity to describe private conversations.
Johnson has tried to navigate the break between House Republicans demanding more Epstein-related information and the president, who just days ago was calling the Epstein files “a hoax” that only “weaklings” were still talking about. White House officials also fumed over Johnson’s comments on a podcast last week, when he called for more information to be released. He’s since said there was “no daylight” between House Republicans and the president on wanting transparency.
“It’s not a hoax. Of course not,” Johnson said in a clip of an interview with CBS News that aired Thursday.
