November 12, 2025 12:53 PM UTC

Trump Begs Boebert (Twice) to Back Off Epstein Discharge Petition

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• by: Colorado Pols

President Trump is totally not worried about the release of more information related to the Epstein files, so he and the White House are doing what totally not-worried people do in this situation…

They’re freaking the fuck out.

As we noted earlier today, Democrats released new information related to deceased billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, including an email from Epstein to associate Ghislaine Maxwell and a journalist claiming that Trump “knew about the girls.” A separate document from 2011 indicates that Trump “spent hours” together with one of the alleged victims of Epstein’s sex trafficking of underaged girls. [More on that in a moment]

The House of Representatives returned to Washington D.C. today after Speaker Mike Johnson had kept the session “on recess” since Sept. 19, ostensibly in order to pressure Senate Democrats to fold on the government shutdown but also to delay the finalization of a discharge petition that would force a House vote on releasing the full Justice Department tranche of files related to the Epstein case. Johnson had been refusing to swear in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva, a Democrat from Arizona elected on Sept. 23, because she is the likely final vote on the discharge petition. Now that the House has returned to D.C., Grijalva is expected to be sworn-in this afternoon.

Trump is panicking.

As New York Times congressional correspondent Annie Karni reports:

President Trump and his administration on Wednesday ramped up a pressure campaign on congressional Republicans who are pushing for a full release of the Justice Department’s files about the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, rushing to head off a House vote on the matter.

Top officials met in the White House Situation Room on Wednesday with Representative Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican who is backing an effort to force a House vote on whether to demand the release of the files.

She was summoned to sit down with top Justice Department and F.B.I. officials, according to two people familiar with the matter. One of the people said the session included Attorney General Pam Bondi and F.B.I. Director Kash Patel. Both people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on the private discussions. [Pols emphasis]

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, confirmed that the meeting had taken place, calling it an example of “transparency” and how administration officials “are willing to sit down with members of Congress and address their concerns.”

Here’s the full silly response from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt:

So it certainly seems like Karoline Leavitt isn’t denying that Trump met with Lauren Boebert to get her to switch her vote on the Epstein discharge petition.

“Doesn’t it show transparency that members of the Trump Administration are willing to brief members of Congress when they please?”

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— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona.bsky.social) November 12, 2025 at 11:50 AM

Trump has now talked to Boebert twice in two days — and three times overall — about the discharge petition (she is one of three Republican women who have signed on to the document): In a phone call on Tuesday and at the White House today. It may be a tough sell given Boebert’s years-long commitment to pushing for the full release of the Epstein files. This is not the first time that the Trump administration has tried to convince her to back off, though if Boebert is suddenly named the new Deputy Director of the FBI, we’ll know why.

Today’s new revelations about the Epstein files is also bad news for another Colorado Republican. Congressman Jeff Crank (R-Colorado Springs) has thus far refused to sign his name to the discharge petition — offering the absurd excuse that he has never signed a discharge petition in his entire 10 months in Congress. This is despite personal lobbying from the brother of deceased Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre, who just so happens to live in Crank’s district. Perhaps Crank has also experienced some serious arm-twisting from the Trump administration, because as The Washington Post reports:

The White House blasted the release of the emails as slander and identified the victim Epstein claimed Trump spent time with as Virginia Giuffre. [Pols emphasis] Rep. Robert Garcia (D-California), the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, said Democrats did not disclose Giuffre’s name because they do not release victims’ names at the request of their families.

Giuffre died by suicide in April. She wrote in “Nobody’s Girl,” her posthumous memoir, that she met Trump once and that he “couldn’t have been friendlier.” She did not accuse him of wrongdoing.

Well, then what’s the problem? If Trump didn’t do anything wrong, particularly where it concerns Virginia Giuffre, then why would Crank continue to refuse requests for the release of information from her own brother?

That’s a rhetorical question, or course.

You’d have to be pretty damn dense at this point to continue to believe that none of this smoke from the White House is coming from a fire. Trump’s entire administration and his personal legacy could be crumbling before our eyes. For Coloradans such as Boebert and Crank, the question is about whether they are willing to go down with the Trump ship when it (inevitably) starts to sink.