A Republican senator has demanded that Donald Trump “release the damn files” to end the roiling Jeffrey Epstein crisis.
Thom Tillis, who is not seeking re-election to his North Carolina seat, became the first Republican in the upper chamber to intervene in Epstein.
He also suggested that the administration might be hiding something “really disturbing” about the late sex offender, who was a close friend of the president for at least 15 years.
“Either it’s a nothing burger ... or it’s something really disturbing, and that’s actually even a more compelling reason to release it,” Tillis told Axios at an Axios News Shapers event Wednesday.
Republicans have been plunged into crisis on Epstein since the Justice Department published a July 7 memo saying that there would be no further investigation and that no files would be released—after years of MAGA hype that the files contained sensational secrets about powerful Democrats. The memo set off MAGA calls for Trump to release the files—which he and his Attorney General, Pam Bondi, have refused to do.
“It makes no sense to me,” Tillis said about the administration’s refusal to share the files.
Tillis joins the likes of former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk and, most vocally, former “first buddy” Elon Musk to express suspicion over Trump’s attempts to sweep the problem under the rug.
A slew of House Republicans are also furious.
Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky is leading an effort with Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California to force a vote on legislation requiring the files’ full release. At least 10 other House Republicans have endorsed the move, including longtime MAGA members Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Lauren Boebert of Colorado.
Others include South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace, Texas Rep. Keith Self, Ohio Rep. Max Miller, Michigan Rep. Tom Barrett, Florida Rep. Cory Mills, Arizona Rep. Elijah Crane, Missouri Rep. Eric Burlison, New Jersey Rep. Jefferson Van Drew, and Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett. That equates to enough Republicans to pass the bill out of the House if every Democrat supports it.
Trump’s reticence over the issue has backfired. The cagier he’s grown, the more that Republicans demand answers. Last week the president turned to lashing out at the “weaklings” who believed the Epstein “bulls---” in the clearest sign yet of a divide emerging within the president’s coalition.
“Their new SCAM is what we will forever call the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax, and my PAST supporters have bought into this ‘bulls---,’ hook, line, and sinker,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “They haven’t learned their lesson, and probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for 8 long years.”
But after facing increased pressure from his fanbase Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek the release in court of any and all “pertinent Grand Jury testimony, subject to Court approval,” in the Epstein investigation.
Epstein was convicted of one count of soliciting an underage prostitute in a 2008 sweetheart plea deal. But he was arrested in July 2019 on new sex trafficking charges. He was found dead by hanging in his cell in Manhattan’s Metropolitan Detention Center five weeks later. His partner in crime, Ghislaine Maxwell, is serving a 20-year prison sentence following her 2021 conviction.
Trump’s connection to Epstein spanned decades. In 2002, Trump told New York Magazine: “I’ve known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy. He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.”
