Epstein furor undermining public trust in US

28/7/2025 5:55

The uproar over

disgraced financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein could

undermine public trust in the Trump administration, as well as

Republican hopes of retaining control of Congress in the 2026

midterm elections, two U.S. lawmakers said on Sunday.



Republican Representative Thomas Massie and Democratic

Representative Ro Khanna, who want the House of Representatives

to vote on their bipartisan resolution requiring full release of

the government's Epstein files, said the lack of transparency is

reinforcing public perceptions that the rich and powerful live

beyond the reach of the judicial system.



"This is going to hurt Republicans in the midterms. The

voters will be apathetic if we don't hold the rich and powerful

accountable," Massie, a hardline conservative from Kentucky,

told NBC's "Meet the Press" program.



Republicans hope to add to their current 219-212 House

majority -- with four seats currently vacant -- and 53-47 Senate

majority in November 2026, although the U.S. political cycle

traditionally punishes the party of the sitting president during

midterm elections.



Khanna said Attorney General Pam Bondi triggered "a crisis

of trust" by saying there was no list of Epstein clients after

previously implying that one existed. The change in position

unleashed a tsunami of calls for her resignation from Trump's

MAGA base.



"This is about trust in government," the California Democrat

told "Meet the Press." "This is about being a reform agent of

transparency."



President Donald Trump, who is playing golf and holding

bilateral trade talks in Scotland, has been frustrated by

continued questions about his administration's handling of

investigative files related to Epstein's criminal charges and

2019 death by suicide in prison.



Massie and Khanna believe they can win enough support from

fellow lawmakers to force a vote on their resolution when

Congress returns from its summer recess in September. But they

face opposition from Republican leaders including House Speaker

Mike Johnson, who sent lawmakers home a day early to stymie

Democratic efforts to force a vote before the break.



Johnson, who also appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press," said

he favors a non-binding alternative resolution that calls for

release of "credible" evidence, but which he said would better

protect victims including minors.



"The Massie and Khanna discharge petition is reckless in the

way that it is drafted and presented," Johnson said. "It does

not adequately include those protections."



Massie dismissed Johnson's claim as "a straw man" excuse.

"Ro and I carefully crafted this legislation so that the

victims' names will be redacted," he said. "They're hiding

behind that."



Trump, who weathered two impeachments and a federal probe

into contacts between his 2016 campaign and Russia during his

first presidential term, has tried and failed so far to distract

attention from the Epstein controversy six months into his

second term.



On Saturday, Trump repeated his claims without evidence that

2024 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and other

Democrats should be prosecuted over payment for endorsements

from celebrities including Oprah Winfrey, Beyonce and the

Reverend Al Sharpton.



"Kamala, and all of those that received Endorsement money,

BROKE THE LAW. They should all be prosecuted!" Trump said on

social media.



Last week he accused former President Barack Obama of

"treason" over how the Obama administration treated intelligence

about Russian interference in U.S. elections nine years ago,

drawing a rebuke from an Obama spokesperson.



Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch Trump ally,

said on Sunday that Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's director of national

intelligence, had found new information that investigators

initially discovered no evidence of Russian election

interference but changed their position after Obama told them to

keep looking.



"I'm not alleging he committed treason, but I am saying it

bothers me," Graham told "Meet the Press."



"The best way to handle this is if there is evidence of a

crime being committed, or suspected evidence of a crime being

committed, create a special counsel to look at it," Graham

added.



Democratic Representative Jason Crow dismissed Gabbard's

claims, telling the "Fox News Sunday" program that the national

intelligence director had turned herself into "a weapon of mass

distraction."



The Department of Justice has said it is forming a strike

force to assess Gabbard's claims.