If Republican lawmakers were trying to run away from the Jeffrey Epstein saga by leaving Washington, they may be disappointed. By returning to their districts, they very well may have run toward it.
At town halls around the country, Republicans are facing an onslaught of questions from constituents seeking details about Epstein-related documents. The drama has transfixed people across the political spectrum, with Republicans and Democrats seemingly disturbed by President Donald Trump’s handling of the Epstein controversy and concerned that the administration is obfuscating the truth.
Republican lawmakers are, by their own admission, uncomfortable.
“I wish you didn’t ask me that question,” Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin said in a tele-town hall when a constituent inquired about his view on the Epstein situation.
Long-simmering interest in Epstein’s sex trafficking ring and his high-profile associates boiled over in the weeks ahead of Congress’ annual August recess, as the Trump administration struggles with its messaging regarding the whereabouts and existence of outstanding Epstein-related documents.
Conservatives who had long been beating the drum that the administration should release Epstein files joined up with Democrats who sense political opportunity in amplifying the drama, with a mission of pressuring the Trump administration to release relevant documents.
The result was a week of heated committee meetings and floor debates, stalled floor proceedings, a bipartisan motion to subpoena the Justice Department succeeding in the Oversight Committee, a discharge petition to force a House vote on the matter and lawmakers subsequently leaving Washington a day early to avoid such a vote.
Now, Republicans are in the uneasy position of fielding questions about the status of the Epstein files — and what the GOP-controlled Congress is going to do about revealing them — without obvious answers.
Mullin’s response to the question he wished his constituent didn’t ask was to offer something of a civics lesson.
“When you hear President Trump talk about ‘Release the files.’ You hear Pam Bondi, ‘Release the files.’ You hear Kash Patel, ‘Release the files.’ You hear us say, ‘Release the files.’ We want transparency,” Mullin said. “That’s what we want. Transparency.”
“But we can’t force the courts to do it,” he added. “The president is part of the executive branch. We’re part of the legislative branch. Courts? That’s judicial. That’s co-equal branches of government. We can’t force them. We can simply ask them.”
(Notably, Mullin used that logic to object to a Democratic resolution demanding the Justice Department release all of its Epstein files in July, calling the effort “political theater.” He offered his own resolution, asking a Florida judge to release grand jury documents related to Epstein.)
There is some truth that the separation of powers will make Congress extracting the documents from the Justice Department challenging, particularly as the courts consider Epstein’s associate-turned-convicted-sex-trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell’s pending appeal.
But lawmakers have avenues to formally register their desire that Epstein files be released — and some have responded to constituent questions with vows to support the growing, bipartisan efforts in the lower chamber.
Main Street Caucus Chair, Nebraska Rep. Mike Flood, for example, was bluntly asked at a town hall last week, “Why are you covering up Epstein files?”
“Let’s be very clear,” Flood responded. “At the next pro forma session of the Congress, you’ll find my name as a sponsor on a resolution from the House Rules Committee to release the Epstein files to protect the victims and not revictimize them again.”
Of course, the resolution Flood described would not actually compel the Justice Department to release the files; it would only inform the DOJ that the House would like the agency to release Epstein-related documents.
Oklahoma Rep. Stephanie Bice also called for transparency, but she stopped short of committing to taking specific steps when the House returns.
“I think that you will see us discuss this when we return to Congress in September, provided that Secretary Bondi or others don’t already release this information,” Bice said.
“These young girls who were victimized by these horrible individuals deserve privacy in this situation, and for me, that’s paramount,” she added. “However we can provide transparency to the American people and still protect those individuals that were victimized in these horrible acts, I am for.”
But other Republicans were more willing to offer the Trump administration some grace. According to NPR, Pennsylvania Rep. Ryan Mackenzie told voters at a town hall that “The Trump administration has now been in office for six months.”
“I know they have not released as much as I would like to see to date, but hopefully they’re going to be doing that,” he said. “And if not, then Congress should potentially step in and compel them to do that.”
Regardless of how Republicans are responding to Epstein questions, it’s apparent they are fielding them consistently.
Democrats told NOTUS they couldn’t have scripted the town halls — where constituents are also pressing Republicans about their unpopular reconciliation bill — any better.
“House Republicans only care about protecting the wealthy and the well-connected,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Viet Shelton said in a statement to NOTUS. “First, they voted for the largest cuts to Medicaid and food assistance in American history to bankroll tax breaks for their billionaire donors. And with the way they are handling the Epstein controversy, it makes sense why people are talking about it back in their districts.”
“It feeds into a larger trend of Republicans breaking their promise to improve the lives of everyday Americans, and instead always siding with the elite,” he continued.
For their part, the National Republican Congressional Committee waved off any concern.
“This manufactured outrage exposes just how desperate Democrats are to distract from their toxic agenda and failing candidates,” spokesperson Mike Marinella said in a statement to NOTUS.
It’s true that some Republican lawmakers claim they haven’t heard the Epstein issue come up in their districts during recess. Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania told reporters Friday he hasn’t heard a single constituent bring up Epstein. Sen. Bernie Moreno of Ohio also told reporters Friday that Epstein is “a 100% inside baseball D.C. story.”
But it’s also true that Democrats seizing on town halls to protest Republican lawmakers had seemed to compel NRCC Chair Richard Hudson to suggest that House Republicans skip in-person town halls in March. Hudson advised that they consider tele-town halls, after Democratic voters and campaign operatives capitalized on anti-Department of Government Efficiency outrage earlier this year to lambast GOP lawmakers.
Still, the trip home hasn’t been quite as challenging for every House Republican. Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett told NOTUS that constituents “like the fact” that he introduced the motion to subpoena Maxwell last month.
Although Burchett said he is receiving praise for how he has navigated the latest Epstein drama, he acknowledged the issue broadly is not going anywhere.
Asked how often the Epstein issue has come up back home, Burchett had a simple answer: “A lot.”