House Republicans largely shrugged off a new report that President Donald Trump’s name was in the Epstein files.
“We were with him last night. He’s fine. He’s gonna release everything,” said Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), who’s been pushing for a vote on a non-binding GOP resolution calling for the release of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, the deceased financier and former sex offender with ties to Trump and other prominent figures.
Trump is “going to release everything,” Norman said, and if Trump’s name was in the files, “it’ll come out.”
And Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who’s leading an effort to circumvent leadership to force a vote on releasing the files, told reporters: “There are probably lots of names in there who haven’t done anything criminal, and so there’s a reluctance to release these files because of the embarrassment just having your name in the news and these files.”
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier Wednesday that the Justice Department told Trump in May his name was among the files along with other high-profile people.
Controversy around the files scrambled the House’s schedule this week after Democrats tried to force a vote in the Rules Committee Monday. GOP leaders aren’t planning to allow any votes on Epstein-related matters until after the House returns from its August recess, and the Trump administration has moved to release grand jury information from the case.
Other Republicans insisted it was already widely known that Trump was likely to be named in the Epstein files.
“We said that, and Trump knows it,” said Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.). “We’ve said that all along. He’s in the plane files. President Trump rode with the guy. He banned him from Mar-a-Lago 15 years ago. He’s said he was a dirtbag and he knows it.”
Katherine Tully-McManus contributed to this report