President Donald Trump is panicking about an impending Home vote on releasing the Epstein recordsdata.
In a Reality Social publish Friday morning, Trump known as the Republicans who plan to vote in assist of the discharge “weak,” “soft,” and “foolish.”
And White Home aides have prompt that any Republicans who vote to launch the recordsdata can kiss goodbye to any future endorsements from the president.
GOP Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, for instance, was searching for Trump’s endorsement in a crowded Republican gubernatorial main. However provided that she appears to assist releasing the Epstein recordsdata, she doubtless gained’t get it.
Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky speaks with fellow Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, each of whom assist the discharge of the Epstein recordsdata.
“Helping Democrats deflect from Republican success is not a good GOP primary election strategy,” an unnamed White Home official instructed NOTUS.
However Trump’s threats don’t appear to be working.
Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky mentioned that his fellow GOP lawmakers are telling him privately that they plan to vote in favor of the invoice, which Massie co-authored with Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California. Massie and Khanna needed to resort to a discharge petition to get the invoice to the ground, as Home Speaker Mike Johnson was working cowl for Trump and refused to place it up for a vote.
The discharge petition reached a majority of signatures on Wednesday after Johnson lastly swore in Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva of Arizona.
Massie additionally instructed Republicans that this isn’t the problem to cave to Trump on.
“The deal for Republicans on this vote is that Trump will protect you if you vote the wrong way. In other words if you vote to cover up for pedophiles you’ve got cover in a Republican primary,” he told CNN. “But I would remind my colleagues that this vote is going to be on your record for longer than Trump is going to be president. And what are you going to do in 2028 and 2030 when you’re in a debate either with a Republican or a Democrat and they say, ‘how can we trust you, you covered up for a pedophile back in 2025?’”
It is unclear why Trump is so adamant on preserving the recordsdata hidden, particularly since he insists that he’s not implicated in them.
A cartoon by Pedro Molina.
Maybe that’s why Trump is doing every thing in his energy to not solely cease the vote however to alter the topic, like his Thursday announcement of recent navy motion in South America.
However that plan is unlikely to work, as Republicans who historically again Trump are breaking with him on the Epstein recordsdata and are even planning a media blitz with Epstein survivors subsequent week.
“Lots of the victims of Jeffrey Epstein had been abused as youngsters. And this info ought to have come out a very long time in the past! The American individuals deserve full transparency into who was concerned in these horrific acts,” GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia wrote on X. “I believe the victims. They along with their attorneys have told me numerous times that President Trump is NOT implicated in this.”
She concluded, “I stand with these ladies and all victims of sexual abuse. It’s a disgrace our authorities is working tougher to guard pedophiles than they’re preventing for the victims! These ladies deserve our battle!!”
