WASHINGTON — A rebel House Republican openly questioned top Trump administration officials on Thursday about their handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files after House Democrats released dozens of new photos from Epstein’s estate, amid anticipation for a Justice Department file dump on Friday.
These images included disturbing quotes from Vladimir Nabokov’s “Lolita” written on a woman’s body, alongside other unclear-context photos of Epstein and redacted women. The novel contains the theme of an adult man’s obsession with a 12-year-old girl, mirroring allegations against Epstein.
Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Robert Garcia spoke to reporters on Thursday about the case.
“I think they will be [released]. We’ll see,” he said of the files expected to be released by the Justice Department on Friday. “It’ll be interesting if they’re not.”
Fifteen days after Friday’s release, the Justice Department must fork over a report to lawmakers with a list of the politicians and government officials in the files.
When asked if he thought there would be a cover-up, Massie noted that the officials appointed to review the Epstein files — namely, FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi — are not implicated in them. As such, he said there’s no reason for them to be reluctant about releasing them.
“Why would they be reluctant?” he asked.
Massie warned that this is a law that “lasts forever.”
“So the next attorney general will prosecute this attorney general or this FBI director if they do become involved in a cover-up by not being in compliance with this law,” he said.
Massie also accused House Speaker Mike Johnson of lying about the law.
“Three federal judges cite the Transparency Act, but, more importantly, they cite that they’re going to redact the victims’ names, which was a lie that was told about this bill by the Speaker himself. He said that victims would be exposed by this bill… but all three judges said no, there are sufficient protections,” said Massie.
When asked if Mike Johnson would remain in power long term, Massie said Johnson would remain in place as long as President Donald Trump wants him there.
“As long as he’s on his good side, he’s still the Speaker,” said Massie.
Garcia repeated his call to reporters on Thursday to release all the files, and also put Bondi on notice.
“Let’s be very clear that the Department of Justice has to release all of the files tomorrow, and I also want to remind the attorney general that she cannot use any excuse that somehow the law says that ‘if there’s an investigation happening, we can, you know, partially not release everything.’ The subpoena that’s in place, that’s essentially with the law that Oversight passed, does not include that provision. They have to release everything.”
Garcia threatened that Democrats will use every tool available to them, including going to the courts and taking legal action to get the files released.
“We’re prepared to do that, but we’re gonna see what happens tomorrow,” he said.
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