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US House Heads for Early Recess
Above: Mike Johnson at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, July 22, 2025. Image copyright: Alex Wong/Getty Images
The Spin
Republican narrative
The Democrats had four years under Biden to undertake disclosure regarding Epstein, exposing this newfound principled position on the matter to be little more than a political ploy. Democrats and their conspiracy-minded Republican enablers will expose victims to harm by forcing any release before it can be done properly by the White House. President Trump still has the support of the GOP and is working tirelessly.
Democratic narrative
After years of stoking rumors about Epstein, most Republicans have clammed up on the issue now that the extent of the sex criminal's association with President Trump becomes clear. Democrats and principled Republicans are fighting for the release of documents to ensure that any disclosure is not a whitewash for the president. To shut down the House entirely shows how deep the fissures are and how broad the support is for clarity.
Cynical narrative
Jeffrey Epstein has been a boogeyman for years, and it is a bad sign that both parties are now entertaining the utterly spurious claims that Epstein was the ringleader of a child sex trafficking enterprise that was patronized by politicians and other prominent figures. Epstein was a criminal, no doubt, but the allegations are massively disproportionate to the evidence. This is a watershed for the mainstreaming of conspiracy thought.