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White House offers new shiny objects to distract from Epstein scandal



In a desperate ploy to change the subject from the bungled Epstein files saga,
Attorney General Pam Bondi on Monday released documents relating to the late
Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination and the investigation into Hillary
Clinton's emails.

Neither case is timely, but releasing documents related to the case offers red
meat for right-wing propaganda networks to run with. That way they can ignore
the fact that President Donald Trump’s MAGA base is enraged that Bondi said
there are no files in the Department of Justice’s possession that incriminate
the powerful people who were friends with convicted sex offender Jeffrey
Epstein.

"The American people deserve answers decades after the horrific assassination
of one of our nation’s great leaders," Bondi said in a statement, which said
that the DOJ was releasing 230,000 pages of documents relating to the
assassination. "The Department of Justice is proud to partner with Director
Gabbard and the ODNI at President Trump’s direction for this latest disclosure."



Bondi announced the release of the MLK files, even though his daughter,
Bernice King, said she did not want them released because they would not be
instructive and would only open painful wounds.



"I wonder why I have to be confronted once again with something that was very
confusing and distressing for me as a five-year-old. I am, honestly, not
prepared to revisit the gruesome details of this painful history. For me, there
is no real value in it; there is only reliving the trauma," she wrote in a
piece published in Vanity Fair.




 



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Bernice King went on to post an image of her father looking displeased with
the text, "Now, do the Epstein files."

Bondi on Monday also said she turned over documents relating to the Clinton
email investigation to Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who is
still probing the non-issue eight years later. It’s likely an effort to throw a
bone to Trump's base, which is enraged about the administration's claim that
there is nothing more to be released about Epstein.



Apparently realizing that this wouldn't be enough to make the Epstein scandal
go away, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche on Tuesday released a statement
reiterating that there are no documents in the DOJ's possession from the
Epstein case that incriminate other people, but said that the DOJ will speak
with jailed Epstein associate Ghislane Maxwell to see if she has any
information about Epstein that could lead to future investigations.

"This Department of Justice does not shy away from uncomfortable truths, nor
from the responsibility to pursue justice wherever the facts may lead. The
joint statement by the DOJ and FBI of July 6 remains as accurate today as it
was when it was written. Namely, that in the recent thorough review of the
files maintained by the FBI in the Epstein case, no evidence was uncovered that
could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties," Blanche
wrote.



He added, “President Trump has told us to release all credible evidence. If
Ghislane Maxwell has information about anyone who has committed crimes against
victims, the FBI and the DOJ will hear what she has to say.”




 



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Meanwhile, over on Capitol Hill, the House is mired in a state of paralysis
due to the Epstein files brouhaha.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA)—who is blocking a bipartisan bill that would
legally compel the Trump administration to release the files—is refusing to put
his own toothless resolution on the floor that would urge the release of files
relating to Epstein, but holds no legal weight to actually force them into
public view. He wants to wait to put his nothingburger resolution up for a vote
after Congress returns from a five-week-long August recess, hoping that maybe
the scandal will have blown over by then.

That has congressional Republicans fuming.

"Dangling bits of red meat no longer satisfies," GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor
Greene of Georgia—who is defying Trump to fight for the release of the Epstein
files—wrote in a post on X. "They want the whole steak dinner and will accept
nothing else."

What's more, Democrats on the House Rules Committee—a powerful committee that
tees up legislation for votes on the House floor—planned to offer other
amendments relating to the Epstein files to bills this week. But because
Republicans on that committee didn't want to have to vote against those
amendments, as directed by GOP leadership, Republican leaders decided that the
Rules Committee simply wouldn't meet at all.

Punchbowl News' Jake Sherman wrote: "THE HOUSE FLOOR is frozen because House
Republicans are rebelling against @SpeakerJohnson strategy for dealing with the
EPSTEIN FILES. The HOUSE RULES COMMITTEE is supposed to hold the line for the
leadership and vote down any Democratic amendments. But they are unwilling to
kill Epstein amendments, which means Johnson's leadership team cannot bring
anything to the floor. JOHNSON tried to push a non-binding resolution, but
declined to bring it to the floor. JOHNSON is caught between a House Republican
Conference that is wary about voting against Epstein related measures and a
president who wants nothing to do with revisiting the sordid episode."

Ultimately, the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein is haunting Trump and the Republican
Party.



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