Congress isn’t done with Epstein — but Trump’s thumb is firmly on the scale

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The House Oversight Committee has the blessing of Speaker Mike Johnson, writes Eric Garcia, but it can easily devolve into either a three-ring circus or Republicans running interference for the president.

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The House passed the legislation to release files related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The Senate was so eager to get it done that it passed by unanimous consent before the bill even hit the Senate floor.

President Donald Trump was so eager to get it out of the way that he unceremoniously signed the Epstein files legislation out of sight of reporters.

That all simultaneously begins and concludes a drawn-out chapter that caused Trump endless headaches since July. Back then, the Justice Department and FBI released a two-page memo saying the pedophile financier Epstein, who used his wealth and connections to traffic young girls and took his own life in a federal jail cell, likely did not have a client list.

But that does not mean that Congress is done with probing into Epstein and who enabled him. Unlike the legislation that Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) had to force through with a discharge petition this week, House Speaker Mike Johnson has blessed the House Oversight Committee’s probe into Epstein.

The committee, for those who might have forgotten because Johnson kept the House out for so long, was the one that subpoenaed the Epstein estate.

The day the House came back, Oversight Democrats dropped the bombshell emails from Epstein where he said that Trump “knew about the girls” and “spent hours at my house” with one of Epstein’s trafficking victims.

Expect more along those lines. Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) wants jury transcripts related to Epstein’s 2008 conviction for Epstein’s so-called “sweetheart deal” that allowed him to receive a more relaxed sentence.

“So there were some grand jury transcripts that the Department of Justice asked to be released the judge ruled against them,” Comer told The Independent. Comer has an incentive to play the investigation straight, particularly because MAGA Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert and Nancy Mace, who signed the discharge petition, all sit on the committee.

Trump notably turned on Greene for her support for the discharge petition and on Thursday during evening votes, her boyfriend–and pro-Trump reporter–Brian Glenn accompanied her and she said she was not doing interviews.

Comer also announced that the committee subpoenaed JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank.

Mace, a rape survivor, has already crossed party lines to subpoena files from the Department of Justice.

“I would like to talk to any of the victims who are willing to name names and tell us who these predators are,” she told The Independent. “

Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee, expressed confidence about the investigation’s next steps and praised Comer for the subpoenas.

“But we think the more Republicans break and continue to support what we're doing, the more wins we're going to get,”

At times, the Oversight Committee can devolve into a partisan circus, but the overwhelming bipartisan consensus on the probe creates positive incentives: For Republicans, they get to take some of the heat off the Justice Department and the FBI and say Congress will do its diligence; and Democrats get to say they are holding the administration accountable.

But the fact is, Trump has made the Justice Department an extension of the White House. The White House instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Epstein’s ties to prominent Democrats.

And they could withhold documents under the guise of an active investigation, which would make it even harder for survivors to receive the transparency they desire.

Massie expressed confidence despite the White House having plenty of cards.

“You can't open enough investigations to cover up for all of the crimes,” he told The Independent after the vote.

And of course, the risk of politicization already is at hand. Mace mentioned wanting to have former Harvard President and Clinton administration Treasury Secretary Larry Summers testify.

At the same time, there’s a risk of Trump shooting himself in the foot. Polling showed before the signing that three out of four Americand disapproved of how Trump handled the affair. If he is seen as using it solely for political retribution, he risks dinging his approval rating even more and hurting the GOP in the process.

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