The Jeffrey Epstein political football bounced back and forth between Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Senate Thursday, with both sides blocking each others’ resolutions to release the files.
Democrats blocked a GOP measure calling for the courts to unseal “all credible information on the Epstein case,” and Republicans rejected a Democrat’s resolution demanding the Department of Justice to release all of its files related to the investigation.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin’s (R-Okla.) resolution called for federal and state courts to “immediately unseal ALL materials that were part of any criminal investigation or prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein or Ms. Ghislaine Maxwell—subject only to redactions to protect victims.”
Mullin’s resolution comports with Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi’s directive to the courts to “produce any and all pertinent Grand Jury testimony.”
This approach, however, hit a snag on Wednesday when an Obama-appointed federal judge in Florida denied the Justice Department’s request to unseal court files on Epstein.
Last week, Mullin shot down Senator Ruben Gallego’s (D-Ariz.) resolution that called on the Department of Justice to release its Epstein files. “The Dem’s political football resolution tells the FBI and DOJ how to do their jobs,” the Oklahoma senator explained on X to justify his objection.
Among other demands, Gallego’s measure calls on Department of Justice officials to “meet with the identified victims of Jeffery Epstein and their representatives to answer questions about the investigations and prosecutions related to the Epstein investigation and to provide the materials the Department of Justice intends to make public.”
The senator blocked Gallego’s resolution a second time, Thursday, explaining on the Senate floor that it blurs the line between the separation of powers by dictating to the DOJ “what they can and can’t do.”
Mullin insisted: “We want transparency, but the courts control the Grand Juries. We in this body can have resolutions going back and forth and suggest that it be done, but truthfully, the judges have to do it.”
The senator noted that both Attorney General Pam Bondi and President Trump have already called upon the judges to release the files.
“My resolution is simply saying that we agree with the president, we agree with AG Bondi on calling for the judges to release it,” he said.
Senator Gallego objected to Mullin’s resolution and suggested combining his Justice Department demands with Mullin’s call for the judicial branch to release files instead.
“I just asked for unanimous consent to pass an Epstein resolution calling for full transparency and all available files to be released,” Mullin declared on X. “Senate Democrats objected on the floor. Liberal political theater.”
On the Senate floor, the senator argued “If my colleague from Arizona actually wants transparency, if he would drop his objection to my resolution, and simply have mine go through, we can move forward with the transparency both of us actually want.”
Mullin needled his Democrat colleague over his party’s sudden interest in the Epstein files after completely ignoring the issue during the Biden years.
“Why now? Why wasn’t this done in the previous four years? What happened?” he asked.
“Where was all this outrage over the past four years when Director Wray was over at the FBI and Attorney General Garland was over at the DOJ?” Mullin continued. “He knows, I know, and all the Democrats know that if there was anything to do with President Trump, they would have happily released it.”
Mullin added that the Democrats’ newfound interest in the Epstein files “is nothing but political theater. We know that.”
“Let’s be honest. We know these files have been out there forever. I don’t remember a single time the Biden administration called on these things to be released. And I don’t remember my colleague from Arizona asking for the files to be released,” he said.