Houses in the U.S. early summer break in Epstein Archives | Republicans

Republicans announced Tuesday House of Representatives Faced with ongoing efforts to force Republicans to continue to vote on the release of Jeffrey Epstein’s archives, they call it an early exit and return home.

The chamber is scheduled for its annual five-week summer break Thursday, but on Tuesday, the Republican majority announced that the last vote of the week will be held the next day. In turn, Democrats accuse the Republican of leaving town rather than responding to Donald Trump’s outrage over the so-called sex traffickers.

“They are actually ending this week because they are afraid of being Jeffrey Epstein question.

Republicans downplayed the decision to shorten the work week while believing the White House had taken action to resolve the issue about the case. Last week, Trump Ask Attorney General Pam Bondireleases the testimony of the jury, although it is expected to be a small part of the document in the case.

“We will hold a committee meeting on Thursday and we are still doing a lot of work,” said Majority Leader Steve Scalise. “The heavy work is done on the committee, and we are going to do a lot of work this week.” He declined to answer a question about whether the votes on Epstein’s file were shortened.

At a press conference, House Speaker Mike Johnsoninsisted that Congress must be cautious about the release of documents related to the case, for fear of re-announcement of victims.

“Congress has no purpose to push the government to do what they are already doing. So it’s a political game,” he said. “I’m very determined about it, we can both ask for complete transparency and protect the victims, and if you run roughly, or you do it too fast, that’s not what will happen.”

Questions about Epstein’s death in 2019 and his involvement in the commercial trafficking of the ring, which allegedly purchased underage girls for elites around the world, broke out earlier this month Ministry of Justice announced Its determination is that he committed suicide in federal prison and that he has no list of clients to release.

The disclosure, as well as the department’s statement, would not release more information about the case, Caused a commotion Among the president’s numerous supporters, he believes he will go to the bottom of the so-called “deep state” conspiracy to cover up Epstein’s connection with global elites. Some of Trump’s own officials have raised such expectations, including Bondi, who told Fox News in February that Epstein’s list of clients “sitting at my desk for review now.”

Congressional Democrats are trying to capitalize on rare differences between the president and his supporters, focusing on regaining a majority in the House next year. The venue for these efforts is the Rules Committee, a low-key body that all legislation usually has to pass.

Democrats on the committee last week Repeated amendments The irrelevant legislation aimed at forcing the issuance of Epstein’s archives to force Republicans to vote for them – a politically difficult vote on many people in the party because it has the potential to be used to accuse them of wanting to keep the documents confidential.

Frustration among Republicans peaked on Monday when Democrats planned to use Rules Committee hearings to provide more Epstein amendments, and Republicans responded by refusing to vote for any more rules, essentially paralyzed. Johnson tried to stop the controversy by agreeing to a vote on the non-binding resolution issued on the document, but this would not happen before the August break.

Tuesday, Housing Supervision Subcommittee Subpoena approved Republican Congressman Tim Burchett has proposed a testimony for Epstein’s close assistant Ghislaine Maxwell, who is in a 20-year prison sentence related to the sex trafficking case. The Justice Department also tried to talk to her and it is not clear when she might appear before Congress.

Meanwhile, Thomas Massie, a Republican who repeatedly leans towards his party, worked with Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna to conduct a legislative maneuver that will force them to publish votes for Epstein’s archives after returns from the House in the first week of September.

Joe Morelle, the second Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, warned that shortening the work week, lawmakers could use the time to consider legislation passed by the end of September to prevent the government from closure.

“We haven’t finished the appropriation bill yet, but we’re going to take a few days off just because we don’t want the president to do what he promised to do, what the attorney general has promised to do, what the FBI directors have promised to do, what they are now breaching their commitments and their commitments,” Morelle said.