Kentucky GOP Rep. Thomas Massie has blasted the Justice Department for its handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case.
Speaking with NBC’s Meet the Press, the Kentucky representative addressed a July 6 memo from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Bureau of Investigation concluding that Epstein died by suicide in jail while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in 2019 and that no “client list” of wealthy co-conspirators exists.
Based on those findings, the memo said no further files on the disgraced financier would be released, explaining that “sensitive information related to these victims is intertwined throughout the materials.”
“That’s a strawman,” said Massie, who has sponsored legislation along with Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California that would force a vote to release the DOJ’s files on Epstein. The legislation, Massie noted, would ensure any information pertaining to the identities of Epstein’s victims would be redacted.
“So, they’re hiding behind that,” he added. “We’re trying to get justice for the victims and transparency for America.”
To avoid a vote on the Epstein files, House Speaker Mike Johnson sent lawmakers home early for the summer recess on Tuesday.
“There’s no purpose for Congress to push an administration to do something that they’re already doing,” Johnson said, according to CBS News.
Those DOJ’s findings flew not only in the face of Attorney General Pam Bondi’s assurance in February that the Epstein list existed and was “sitting on my desk” awaiting review, but also contravened long-cherished far-right conspiracy theories that Epstein files implicate Democrats in the scheme.
Amid the ensuing backlash, Trump has become increasingly desperate in his attempts to deflect from scrutiny. He has called the Epstein story a “hoax” and come to the defense of his attorney general.
“What’s going on with my ‘boys’ and, in some cases, ‘gals?’ They’re all going after Attorney General Pam Bondi, who is doing a FANTASTIC JOB,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on July 14. “One year ago our Country was DEAD, now it’s the ‘HOTTEST’ Country anywhere in the World. Let’s keep it that way, and not waste Time and Energy on Jeffrey Epstein, somebody that nobody cares about.”
Trump’s deflection campaign has also included going after the media. On July 18, Trump sued The Wall Street Journal and its owner, Rupert Murdoch, for $10 billion over a report on a lewd birthday card he allegedly sent to Epstein in 2003.
The administration has also tried to draw attention away from Epstein by accusing former President Barack Obama of a “treasonous conspiracy” to cook up intelligence on Russian election interference to harm Trump’s 2016 campaign.
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