WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump was supposed to take a victory lap this week after Congress made his agenda law through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and he made some progress negotiating new trade treaties with several countries.
Instead, Trump and his allies tried to tamp down an escalating rebellion over the release of information about those involved with Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of trafficking underaged girls.
Furor over the Trump administration’s claims that there was no new information to be had about Epstein — although Trump had campaigned on promises to release a “client list” — led to the shutdown of all business in the U.S. House and an early start to Congress’ August recess.
When asked this week by Axios reporter Hans Nichols about the paralysis in the House, Rep. Tom Emmer, R-6th District, joined Trump and other members of the House GOP leadership in saying there was nothing to see behind the Epstein curtain.
“This is totally an issue that is a non-issue,” Emmer responded. “You guys are making it an issue, and not you, Hans, but the media. It’s kind of funny. If it was so important, then why weren’t Democrats clamoring for this for the four years under Biden?”
Facing a backlash over the Epstein files, Trump has tried to shift the blame to his predecessors, including Biden.
“You know, these files were made up by Comey,” Trump told reporters, referring to former FBI Director James Comey. “They were made up by Obama. They were made up by Biden.”
Yet the two federal investigations into Epstein occurred from 2006-2008 and 2019, during the George W. Bush and first Trump administrations — not during the tenures of presidents Barack Obama or Joe Biden and not while Comey was leading the FBI.
House Speaker Mike Johnson curtailed work in the House after Republicans on the Rules Committee — which includes Rep. Michelle Fischbach, R-7th District — were increasingly uncomfortable with voting against Democratic amendments that would force the release of information about Epstein.
Republicans on the Rules Committee, including Fischbach, did clear the way for House consideration of a non-binding resolution. But that resolution may never be subject to a House vote, especially since the House won’t reconvene until September.
Epstein hosted parties with teenage girls for rich and powerful men on two islands he owned in the Virgin Islands. Awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, he was found lifeless in his jail cell, a death officials determined was a suicide, although many in the MAGA camp are convinced Epstein was murdered.
In an effort to quell the anger about Epstein, the Justice Department on Thursday planned to interview longtime Epstein girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of sex trafficking and other charges and sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022. Just days ago, the Justice Department asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reject her appeal seeking to overturn her conviction for assisting in Epstein’s alleged crimes.
Trump also tried to tamp down the furor over Epstein by instructing the Justice Department to release select, “credible” information from the Epstein grand juries. But a judge in Florida declined to release the information and judges in New York overseeing the government’s request to unseal the grand jury transcripts there are not likely to do so either.
Trump has also sued the Wall Street Journal for a story it published about a birthday greeting from Trump to Epstein that featured a bawdy drawing. Trump called the drawing a “fake.” The WSJ responded this week by releasing the drawing to the public and running a separate story that says Trump’s name appeared several times in undisclosed official information about Epstein.
Attorney General Pam Bondi touched off the crisis about two weeks ago when she said there was no Epstein “client list” and no evidence that the disgraced financier did not commit suicide.
Trump also tried to change the conversation this week through a series of often bizarre postings on Truth Social, including a faked video of former President Obama being arrested.
That was followed up by a bizarre press conference on Wednesday by National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard in which she accused Obama and his deputies of manufacturing a “false” intelligence analysis to show Russia tried to help Trump win the 2016 election.
Obama and former officials in his administration have dismissed the allegations as baseless and say Gabbard is trying to help Trump distract the public from the Epstein mess.
In any case, questions about the identities of men who may have sexually abused underaged girls procured by Epstein are going to continue to roil Trump.
On the same day as Gabbard’s news conference, key Republicans joined Democrats on a House Oversight subcommittee vote Wednesday to subpoena Maxwell for a deposition and the Department of Justice for files related to Epstein.
Emmer: Minnesota media is ‘worthless’
Not only did Rep. Tom Emmer bash the national media for its continued coverage of the Epstein scandal this week, the GOP lawmaker also took aim at his home state journalists for its coverage of immigration.
At a Tuesday GOP leadership press conference, Emmer, who is House majority whip, decried the shooting of a New York policeman by two undocumented immigrants and lauded a sharp uptick in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests in Minnesota since Trump assumed office, which have reportedly doubled.
“While the local, worthless media in my home state tries to spin that as a bad thing, the brave men of ICE are getting the worst of the worst illegal aliens in Minnesota off the streets,” Emmer said.
It’s unclear, but it seems Emmer may have been angered by a recent Minnesota Star Tribune story that also said more than 40% of the immigrants arrested under Trump had no criminal history, and several studies have found that undocumented immigrants commit crimes at a lower rate than U.S. citizens.
House Speaker Mike Johnson and other GOP participants at the press conference tried to sell what they say are the virtues of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
But when Johnson invited questions from the journalists in the room, most asked about the release of information about Epstein.
In other news:
- President Trump’s clawback of funds to National Public Radio was aimed at punishing what he viewed as an elite, Democratic listenership. But Brian Arola shows that it will be small, rural radio stations in Minnesota that feature a lot of local content that will be hurt the most by the rescission.
- Matthew Blake wrote that the long wait to be able to legally buy pot in Minnesota may be coming to an end because, by the end of the year, the state could see up to 150 non-tribal marijuana dispensaries open their doors to the public.
- The race for the 2nd Congressional District seat that will be vacated by Democratic Rep. Angie Craig is expected to be competitive, not only in the general election but also in the primaries. The gloves have come off already in the fight to be the GOP candidate in that election.
- Winter Keefer explains why a June raid by federal agents on a Mexican restaurant has become a sticking point for Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey in his bid for reelection.
This and that
A reader commented on an excellent and recent Minnesota Star Tribune story about a 100-year-old bird-banding program that would be ended or severely curtailed by the “big beautiful” act that will advance President Trump’s agenda.
“Talk about undercutting one of the advantages of rural living,” the reader said. “These cuts will also impact birds flying migratory routes in red states.”
Please keep your comments, and any questions, coming. I’ll try my best to respond. Please contact me at aradelat@minnpost.com.
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