Category: Epstein files
How GOP leadership can turn a midterm gift into a total disaster
Did Donald Trump secretly plan this fight over the Jeffrey Epstein files to lure Democrats into another political trap? No. I don’t believe he did. I know people close to the president who were frustrated over the summer when he abruptly shifted from promising the files’ release to calling it a “distraction” and a “hoax.” I said at the time on my show that the switch was the first major misstep of Trump 2.0.
But I understand why the 4D-chess theory is so tempting now. It looks like a setup. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) spent months attacking Trump over Epstein. Then we learned that Jeffries may have accepted donor requests from Epstein after Epstein’s first sex-offense conviction. And a Democrat from the Virgin Islands — Epstein’s district — was literally taking dictation from Epstein on what questions to ask in a congressional hearing.
The 2026 midterms are coming fast. If the GOP wants to avoid another preventable disaster, it had better stop rehearsing the same script.
Those are facts, not theories.
The deeper truth, though, has nothing to do with strategy. American politics follows two patterns, and both showed up again this week.
First, Republicans pre-emptively surrender. Always.
Watch Democrats tell soldiers to ignore orders while Trump follows every instruction a federal judge hands him. His restraint isn’t Romney-level, but the Republicans around him shrink the space for any real fight. That’s why Attorney General Pam Bondi is developing a well-deserved reputation for overpromising and under-delivering.
RELATED: The right message: Justice. The wrong messenger: Pam Bondi.
Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Second, Democrats always overreach when Republicans fold.
We saw it in 2018 when Republicans gave up on repealing Obamacare and lost 40 House seats for their cowardice. The pattern continued in 2020, as Democrats pushed their false god evangelism into insane absolutism — on “fortifying” elections, on arresting Trump, on forcing people into taking the poisonous jab, on transitioning kids. It was mark of the beast stuff, and voters wanted no part of it.
The latest example came this week, when Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) answered a question from a friendly reporter about why Democrats never pursued the Epstein files when they had the chance by snapping, “What is [Trump] hiding?” The Senate had just voted almost unanimously to release those files, and instead of revealing Trump, former Bill Clinton hack Lawrence Summers stood exposed for his ties to the sex offender, seeking his counsel as “wingman” in an effort to seduce the daughter of a high Chinese Communist Party official.
Anna Rose Layden/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Both parties cling to their worst instincts. Republicans surrender too easily. Democrats push too far. And no politician in modern history has been buoyed more by his opponents’ excesses than Donald Trump.
So once again, Republicans hold the advantage on the Epstein files — at least for the moment. But early signs suggest they may squander it. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Pam Bondi appear ready to narrow or redact the release into something the base will see as betrayal. If that happens, Democrats won’t need to win the argument. Republicans will beat themselves.
The 2026 midterms are coming fast. If the GOP wants to avoid another preventable disaster, it had better stop rehearsing the same script.
A little discipline — and a little courage — would go a long way.
Lee Zeldin humiliates Jasmine Crockett over her embarrassing accusation about Epstein donations
Left-wing firebrand Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) tried to smear Republicans with a bizarre attack about supposed campaign donations from deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein but got humiliated instead.
Crockett tried to insinuate that the disgraced financier had donated to the campaign of former Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York along with other Republican politicians.
‘Crockett should get censured for this and staff should be fired. What a shocking embarrassment.’
“Folks who also took money from somebody named Jeffrey Epstein, as I had my team dig in very quickly: Mitt Romney, the NRCC, Lee Zeldin, [former President] George Bush … McCain-Palin,” she said in a video that was circulated on social media.
“I just wanna be clear. If this is the standard that we’re gonna make, just know we gonna expose it all!” she added. “Just know that the FEC filings? They are available for everybody to review!”
Zeldin mocked her in a post on his social media account.
“Yes Crockett, a physician named Dr. Jeffrey Epstein (who is a totally different person than the other Jeffrey Epstein) donated to a prior campaign of mine,” he wrote.
“NO FREAKIN RELATION YOU GENIUS!” he added with interspersed clapping emojis.
Others hopped in to make fun of Crockett’s suggestion.
“My team dug into Representative Crocket. Did you know she died at the ALAMO?! Stop the presses,” joked one account.
“Please order immediate testing of the drinking water across her congressional district — something is seriously wrong with it,” added another.
A Blaze News request for comment to Crockett’s office was not immediately answered.
RELATED: Jasmine Crockett calls Trump a ‘piece of s**t’ during rant at left-wing rally
“Crockett should get censured for this and staff should be fired. What a shocking embarrassment to go to the floor with this kind of insane accusation, and have the WRONG JEFFREY EPSTEIN,” replied GOP communications expert Matt Whitlock.
Crockett has recently suggested that she may launch a campaign for the U.S. Senate as retribution against Texas Republicans who redistricted the congressional maps to help them in the midterm elections.
“If you want to take my seat of 766,000 away, I feel like there has to be some karma in that to where I take your seat that is for 30 million away,” she said in October. “So we are, you know, the primary is the primary. That’s cool, but you got to win the general. So we are doing some testing here shortly to see if I can expand the electorate.”
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Marjorie Taylor Greene says she has received violent threats — and blames Trump
Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia said she has been targeted with violent threats and suggested that they are related to a vote on releasing the Epstein files.
Greene tried to tie the threats to rhetoric from President Donald Trump and others who had criticized her over the vote, which is scheduled for Tuesday.
‘The toxic and dangerous rhetoric in politics must end and we need healing in this country for all Americans.’
“President Trump’s unwarranted and vicious attacks against me were a dog whistle to dangerous radicals that could lead to serious attacks on me and my family,” she wrote on social media.
Greene said that she had previously been the target of death threats and swatting calls from the left but went on to say the current threats were likely from the right.
“Now that President Trump has called me a traitor, which is absolutely untrue and horrific. Mark Levin has been calling me a traitor. And so have other prominent likely paid social medial activists. This puts blood in the water and creates a feeding frenzy. And it could ultimately lead to a harmful or even deadly outcome,” she said.
“Also, the timing of this just happens to be days before we take the vote on releasing the Epstein files,” she added. “I love America and the American people, and I swore an oath to uphold the constitution and always do so. I am not a traitor.”
She said that her construction company’s office building had received a pipe bomb threat.
A spokesperson for the Rome Police Department confirmed in an email statement to Blaze News that they had received threat reports related to Greene.
“While the threats directed at Congresswoman Greene’s business occurred in a different jurisdiction in Georgia, we can confirm that Rome Police were notified of an unordered pizza delivery, as well as received two email threats referencing her family, at an address within our jurisdiction,” read the statement.
Greene blamed the president’s rhetoric against her, adding, “When the President of the United States irresponsibly calls a Member of Congress of his own party, traitor, he is signaling what must be done to a traitor.”
She included a clip explaining how hoax pizza deliveries are used to intimidate targets by letting them know that their residence is known to their critics.
“The toxic and dangerous rhetoric in politics must end and we need healing in this country for all Americans,” Greene concluded.
Also on Monday, the president posted on social media that he supported Republicans voting to release the Epstein files.
RELATED: Trump denies report of letter and drawing sent to Epstein on 50th birthday, threatens to sue WSJ
“As always, we take any threat seriously and follow established investigative procedures, regardless of political context,” continued the police statement. “The Rome Police Department remains committed to thoroughly investigating all credible threats and ensuring the safety of every member of our community without regard to political affiliation or public profile.”
Greene has also been one of the few Republicans to call the Israeli military operation against Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip a “genocide.” She went on to argue against U.S. involvement in the Middle East unrest.
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‘Nothing To Hide’: Trump Says House GOP Should Vote To Release Epstein Files
‘it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party, including our recent Victory on the Democrat ‘Shutdown”
MTG Claims Trump’s Criticisms Of Her Provoked ‘Hot Bed Of Threats’
‘The man I supported and helped get elected’
John Fetterman Takes Shot At Democrats For Not Releasing Epstein Files When Biden Was President
‘We sat on those for four years’
Effort to release Epstein files finally advances after newly sworn-in Democrat becomes final signatory
Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie’s highly anticipated discharge petition to release the Epstein files received its final signatory on Wednesday, allowing lawmakers to force a vote in the House.
Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva of Arizona became the 218th signatory on the Epstein discharge petition just moments after being sworn into office on Wednesday. Grijalva joined the 213 Democrats who unanimously supported the discharge petition while just four Republicans — Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Nancy Mace of South Carolina, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, and Massie — signed on.
‘Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap.’
With 218 signatures, lawmakers will be able to force a House vote on releasing the Epstein files.
Just hours before Grijalva’s swearing in, the White House confirmed that members of President Donald Trump’s administration met with Boebert in the Situation Room to address the discharge petition.
Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
This meeting included a phone call from Trump as well as a face-to-face with Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, and FBI Director Kash Patel. Despite the apparent pressure campaign, Boebert did not rescind her support for the discharge petition.
Despite the bipartisan uproar over the administration’s handling of the Epstein files, Trump maintains that the scandal is a Democrat “hoax” to distract from their disastrous shutdown.
“The Democrats are trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax again because they’ll do anything at all to deflect on how badly they’ve done on the Shutdown, and so many other subjects,” Trump said in a Truth Social Post. “Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap. The Democrats cost our Country $1.5 Trillion Dollars with their recent antics of viciously closing our Country, while at the same time putting many at risk — and they should pay a fair price.”
RELATED: Supreme Court rejects Ghislaine Maxwell’s appeal on first day of session
Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images
“There should be no deflections to Epstein or anything else, and any Republicans involved should be focused only on opening up our Country, and fixing the massive damage caused by the Democrats!”
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