July 24, 2025 12:01 PM UTC

Democrats Force Republicans to Subpoena Epstein Files as Boebert Vanishes

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• by: Colorado Pols

President Trump has been trying really hard to stop Republicans from talking about Jeffrey Epstein and his now-confirmed appearance in the Epstein files that his administration recently tried to claim don’t actually exist. But Trump’s demands that House Speaker Mike Johnson basically shut down Congress a week early were not completely successful.

As The Washington Post explains:

President Donald Trump was struggling Wednesday to contain the fallout from his administration’s decision not to release the Epstein files, as a House subcommittee for the first time voted to subpoena the administration for the files [Pols emphasis] and a Florida court declined to release grand jury testimony from the case.

Three House Republicans supported a measure introduced by Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pennsylvania) to demand the Justice Department release the files. Under House rules, the full committee — led by Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky), a Trump ally — must now issue the subpoenas.

“Subpoenas will be issued in the near future,” an Oversight spokesman said Wednesday evening…

…The Wednesday action in the House Oversight subcommittee on federal law enforcement was supported by three Republicans: Reps. Nancy Mace (South Carolina), Scott Perry (Pennsylvania) and Brian Jack (Georgia).

Ten GOP lawmakers have signed a bipartisan petition to circumvent House leadership and send a measure to the floor to release the files; that won’t happen until September, however.

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky), who is leading the petition effort with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-California), said everyone should be prepared to see names they may recognize in the files, if they’re released. Massie said he expected the backlash to the administration’s refusal to release the files to “grow over the August recess.” [Pols emphasis]

Here’s more from the popular ‘X’ account ‘Call to Activism‘:

Congressperson Lauren Boebert (R-Windsor) is Colorado’s only representative on the House Oversight subcommittee that voted to subpoena the Epstein files. Boebert has repeatedly called for the release of the Epstein files and even floated the idea of a special prosecutor to investigate further. As recently as last week, Boebert was on NewsMax saying that “there’s no defense” for how Attorney General Pam Bondi has handled the Epstein files:

If you somehow thought that Boebert would stand by her, uh, convictions, think again. Boebert disappeared on Wednesday so as not to have to take an official position that would surely displease President Trump.

Now that three House Republicans have formally voted to subpoena the Epstein files, and another (Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky) is pushing a discharge petition to force a floor vote on the issue, it will be fascinating to see if other Republicans — including Boebert — will start to fold on a subject that is making them very unpopular with the MAGA base. The coverup is quickly becoming as big an issue as the Trump-Epstein relationship itself; how long will Congressional Republicans wait before abandoning this sinking ship?