Congress

Alex Acosta cleared Trump of wrongdoing in the Epstein case, GOP says

Published

9 months ago

October 17, 2025

Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee took a victory lap Friday after releasing a transcript of their recent interview with former U.S. attorney Alex Acosta regarding Jeffrey Epstein, saying it provides evidence President Donald Trump was not involved in the case against the late convicted sex offender.

“Acosta NEVER talked to Trump about Epstein,” the Republican majority of the Oversight Committee said in a post on X, attaching a screenshot of Acosta’s interview from September. “Not in person. Not on the phone. Not over email.”

At one point in the exchange between lawmakers and Acosta — who appeared before the committee as part of its ongoing investigation into the Epstein case — Oversight committee ranking member Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) asked, “So you never — the entire time you were U.S. attorney, you never once spoke to Donald Trump?”

Acosta replied, according to the interview transcript, “The entire time — let me be more clear. I did not speak with President Trump, with Donald Trump before I was considered for Secretary of Labor.”

Asked by another Democrat whether Trump was named in any document in the Epstein case, Acosta said he did not recall any such instance.

Oversight Democrats, however, had a starkly different takeaway from Acosta’s interview, with Sara Guerrero, a Democratic spokesperson, arguing his remarks suggested a lack of contrition for his part in the case.

“The transcripts of Alex Acosta’s interview confirm what we’ve known all along: he has no remorse for his mishandling of the Epstein case,” Guerrero said in a statement. “Because of the deal Alex Acosta gave Epstein, he was able to continue assaulting and raping young women and girls for another decade. No matter how House Republicans try to spin this, Oversight Democrats will keep pushing for the truth.”

Acosta, in his capacity as U.S. attorney, oversaw the deal between the federal government and Epstein that many have argued allowed the financier to continue to victimize women for years. Acosta resigned from his post as Labor Secretary in the first Trump administration amid renewed scrutiny of the Epstein case. He told Congressional investigators last month that the decision to resign was his choice and not by the urging of the White House.

The panel has been probing the Epstein case for months, after a subcommittee in July compelled the full committee chair, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), to subpoena the Justice Department for documents.

Epstein’s estate has also turned over materials to Congressional investigators, including a so-called birthday book that included a note allegedly written by Trump for Epstein.

Trump has denied his connection to the note and sued the Wall Street Journal, which was the first to report on its existence. Democrats continue to suggest Trump is trying to hide his longtime relationship with Epstein.

The House Oversight Committee also on Friday released a new batch of documents it had previously received from Epstein’s estate, including Epstein’s schedules.

The materials mention a host of powerful men with whom Epstein had dealings, including a proposed 2011 appointment with Tom Pritzker — who appears to be the businessman and executive chairman of Hyatt Hotels — and a planned 2012 dinner with filmmaker Woody Allen and his partner, Soon-Yi Previn.

Among other events mentioned, Epstein also appeared to scheduled a dinner in Feb. 2013 with the former Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Barak and Larry Summers, former Treasury Secretary and Harvard University President.

Congress

House votes to disclose which members settled sexual misconduct allegations with taxpayer funds

Published

4 hours ago

June 30, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The House approved a measure Tuesday compelling the public release of records showing which House members have used taxpayer dollars to settle sexual misconduct charges levied against them and how much money was spent.

The resolution, offered by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), directs the House Ethics Committee and the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights — which also handles claims of misconduct — to produce such information within 60 days. It passed nearly unanimously, 420-0, with only Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) — an outspoken advocate for victims of sexual harassment and assault — voting present.

“We need to know what’s been going on here in the House of Representatives in order to convince the people and assure the people that we are conducting the people’s business with the utmost integrity and treating the officers and employees of this institution with the respect that they deserve,” said Massie, in remarks on the chamber floor imploring his colleagues to support the measure.

Massie’s effort comes after Reps. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) and Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) were, earlier this year, forced to resign under the cloud of serious sexual misconduct allegations. The incidents forced a reckoning in the House, where members have historically struggled to show they take sexual assault allegations within their ranks seriously and to show they are prepared to root out bad behavior when necessary.

Facing such renewed public pressure, the House Ethics panel publicly reiterated its commitment to investigating claims of sexual misconduct among lawmakers. But in a statement in April, the committee also noted that it “does not handle sexual harassment lawsuits or have any involvement in settlements of such claims.”

In March, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee voted to subpoena the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights for related settlements, and those materials revealed that the federal government paid more than $300,000 to settle claims against House lawmakers or their offices.

Congress ended the practice of the government footing the bill on members’ behalf in 2018, and the Ethics Committee has said it has, since that time, “not been notified of any awards or settlements relating to allegations of sexual harassment by a Member.”

In an interview during the vote Tuesday, Ethics chair Michael Guest (R-Miss.) said he believed the information compelled by the resolution had already been shared. But he would still support the measure, he added, because there was “nothing problematic” about Massie’s proposal.

“Anything we can do to make sure that that information is readily available, we want to make that happen,” Guest said.

The House previously rejected a related measure from Mace that would have forced the Ethics Committee to release information on its investigations of lawmakers who have been accused of sexual misconduct. The top Republican and Democrat on the Ethics panel — Guest and Mark DeSaulnier (D.Calif.) at the time released a rare public statement to condemn the resolution, arguing it would have a chilling effect on victims.

In a video posted on X Tuesday afternoon, Mace questioned why the House was voting on Massie’s resolution, when the Oversight subpoena she championed had already compelled materials about the settlements to be shared with Congress.

“I guess it’s just political theater,” she said.

Congress

Shouting match erupts between Lawler and Raskin at immigration hearing

Published

5 hours ago

June 30, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

A House hearing on immigration policy devolved into a chaotic shouting match Tuesday, illustrating the tension over an issue that has defined the Trump era.

Republican Rep. Mike Lawler and Democrat Jamie Raskin erupted at each other during a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing on the “sanctuary” policies in some jurisdictions that limit cooperation between local law enforcement and immigration authorities.

Lawler drew the ire of Raskin as he introduced as a witness the mother of Sheridan Gorman, an 18-year-old college student from his home state who was killed in March in Chicago — allegedly by a Venezuelan with no legal status in the U.S.

The New York lawmaker accused Democratic lawmakers of having more sympathy for Renee Good and Alex Pretti, U.S. citizens who were shot to death by immigration agents in Minneapolis, than people like Gorman and Laken Riley, who was killed in Georgia in 2024 by a Venezuelan without legal status.

“While some of my colleagues may not want to hear the truth, the same outrage you feel about Renee Good and Alex Pretti, you should feel about Sheridan Gorman and Laken Riley and every angel family in this country,” Lawler said.

That drew an outburst from Raskin:

“I do feel that outrage,” Raskin said, prompting Lawler to shout back, “You do not!”

The Maryland lawmaker then challenged Lawler: “Do you feel the outrage for Alex Pretti and Renee Good?”

Then came the chaos: Democrat Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the ranking member of the committee, told Lawler he was reading a statement, not an introduction, then called on Republican Rep. Tom McClintock, the chair, to suspend Lawler’s comments.

Still, Lawler and Raskin continued to yell at each other.

“You don’t belong in this committee. You should get the hell out of here!” Raskin told Lawler. “You don’t understand the rules of the committee. You don’t understand the Constitution. You’re full of it!”

Lawler responded by yelling that Raskin should be “ashamed” of himself for not opposing sanctuary city policies.

Neither Raskin nor Lawler’s office immediately responded to requests for comment.

“Thanks to Mr. Lawler’s outrageous outburst, we will not allow this to happen again,” Jayapal said following the verbal altercation. “This was an agreement between the chair and the ranking member. And unfortunately, you’re not able to control your members.”

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report misspelled Renee Good’s name.

Congress

House floor is frozen after GOP holdouts reject Johnson’s election-bill plan

Published

8 hours ago

June 30, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

A handful of House Republicans angry about the Senate’s failure to act on a GOP elections bill and other grievances with party leaders rejected a procedural measure Tuesday, effectively halting progress on the annual defense policy bill and other legislation.

The hard-liner rebellion Tuesday at least temporarily extends a freeze on most floor business that began last week amid conservative frustrations over the stalled SAVE America Act, which President Donald Trump has called his No. 1 legislative priority.

The “rule” setting up further House votes this week failed 224-198, with 14 Republicans voting with Democrats against the measure. Those Republicans included Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who immediately moved to reconsider the vote at a later time. Leaders also faced absences from several Republicans.

If Speaker Mike Johnson can’t placate the holdouts, he will be unable to move the annual Pentagon bill or the fiscal 2027 spending bill for the State Department and other agencies as planned before a scheduled weeklong July 4 recess begins. Also set to be left behind is a ceremonial resolution commemorating the one-year anniversary of tax-cut legislation that remains the GOP’s major legislative triumph of President Donald Trump’s second term.

Johnson told reporters Republicans would work for the “next day-and-a-half” to settle the disputes and move on with the scheduled business.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida demanded Tuesday that Johnson attach the SAVE America Act to the Pentagon bill as an amendment — even after Johnson moved to attach the bill as part of the procedural vote that failed Tuesday.

Divisions among Republican senators have stalled the bill in the other chamber, where it faces a certain Democratic filibuster.

Trump has amped up pressure on congressional Republicans, canceling the signing of a major housing bill last week to put pressure on the Senate to pass the bill. Later, after meeting with Johnson at the White House Thursday, the president instructed GOP members not to blockade the floor.

Luna and others did not heed him Tuesday.

Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee, called the situation “unhinged” on the floor Tuesday.

“What on earth are we doing here?” McGovern said. “Every week, wondering if someone’s going to throw a fit, if Donald Trump is going to post something crazy and blow everything up, if Mike Johnson is going to bring something to the floor when he doesn’t have the votes.”