Congress

Congress races to deliver Epstein results as bipartisan pressure mounts

Published

4 months ago

February 26, 2026

House members are eyeing a new phase in their monthslong investigation into the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein: a race to produce results that match the stunning Epstein fallout across the globe and satisfy an electorate clamoring for accountability.

This week’s interviews of Bill and Hillary Clinton — who are scheduled to testify to lawmakers under subpoena and behind closed doors about their relationships with Epstein and his convicted co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell — could be a pivotal moment in this effort.

Bill Clinton has maintained that he was an acquaintance of Epstein’s but stopped communicating with him at least a decade before his arrest in 2019, and he has not been accused of wrongdoing.

His spokesperson Angel Ureña posted on social media in 2019 that the former president traveled on Epstein’s plane four times internationally in 2002 and 2003, but that Secret Service details were present “on every leg of the trip.” Hillary Clinton has said she has no memory of meeting Epstein at all.

But the Clintons’ depositions before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee come as the recent arrests in Britain of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, and ex-ambassador to the U.S. Peter Mandelson, have only intensified the pressure on Congress to produce similarly dramatic impacts closer to home.

That means both Clintons will be put under a microscope for any potential transgression, whether it relates to the late financier’s sex trafficking conviction or not.

“Obviously, the committee wants to see some people be held accountable,” said Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) in an interview in advance of the high-profile depositions. The former president will testify Friday, and the former secretary of state Thursday, both in Chappaqua, N.Y.

Roughly 19 members are expected to be on hand for the depositions, and Comer said he suspected questions to focus on what interactions the couple had with Epstein — in the White House or elsewhere.

“I think what you’re seeing in Britain is, the charges against Prince Andrew and the former ambassador weren’t sex-related crimes. They were more with respect to treason and selling secrets and things like that,” he explained. “We were just fascinated how Epstein was able to surround himself with so many high-profile government figures, not just in the United States, but in other countries, so I think there will be a lot of questions.”

Linking Bill or Hillary Clinton to any type of criminal charge would be a win for Republicans, who are facing growing pressure to take down any powerful person with ties to Epstein — even as President Donald Trump’s own connections to the late financier present persistent questions and ongoing political liability. That’s especially true as the Justice Department faces criticism for its haphazard release of the Epstein files, including allegations from Democrats that the administration is covering up for the commander-in-chief.

“The DOJ hasn’t released all the files … terabytes of data, millions of files,” said GOP Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, a member of the Oversight panel. “We need to bring in witnesses, people that will actually give us information and tell us the truth. Because so far, you know, people aren’t being honest.”

Countless public figures and elected officials have communicated with Epstein over the years, and many of those communications are not criminal in nature — even if there has been a reckoning for some of those individuals. Larry Summers, for instance,announced Wednesday he would resign from Harvard University, an institution he once led, as a result of his association with Epstein highlighted in the files.

That means that delivering accountability is not so simple, and lawmakers are fighting an uphill battle to put anyone behind bars in connection with Epstein. Obstacles include a key witness who won’t cooperate — Epstein’s imprisoned co-conspirator Maxwell, who has invoked the Fifth Amendment — and the fact that records might show investigative targets mingling with Epstein but not engaging in specific illegal acts.

“Most of our big investigations have ended with criminal referrals,” Comer said. “This is a complicated investigation. A lot of the major players have died.”

Meanwhile, even Democrats, who have cast themselves as the champions of transparency in the Epstein saga, now appear willing to go hard in their questioning of Bill Clinton after the caucus was initially divided over whether the former first couple should be held in contempt for failing to appear for previously-scheduled depositions.

“Our job is to, regardless of how powerful the person with knowledge of this abuse and trafficking ring is, to find out what they know, who else is implicated, what they’ve seen, what they participated in,” said Rep. Emily Randall (D-Wash.), a member of the Oversight Committee. “We definitely are there to ask questions that will help us uncover more information. Not to throw softballs.”

At the same time, Democrats are cognizant that the GOP sees an easy target in Bill Clinton, who is featured in multiple images released by the DOJ. None of those photos indicate illicit or illegal activities, but Republicans and the White House have used them anyway to elevate the former president as an alternative bogeyman to Trump, who remains Democrats’ main target.

Trump has also not been charged with any wrongdoing in connection with Epstein and has maintained his innocence.

“I don’t think anybody should be spared,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), a member of the House Judiciary Committee, in an interview earlier this week. “But [Republicans are] going to have a hard time just pinning it on Bill Clinton, I think, because there’s just too many others. … The minute they go to Bill Clinton, they gotta go to Trump as well, because there’s really significant stuff about Trump in there.”

The House Oversight investigation dates back to July, when Democrats and a handful of Republicans in a subcommittee hearing voted to subpoena the Justice Department for all of the materials in its Epstein investigation.

That vote launched a formal probe that led to other subpoenas for individuals in Epstein’s orbit, along with the release of documents and images from the Epstein estate, including the now-infamous “birthday book” where Trump allegedly wrote Epstein a message accompanied by a lewd drawing.

Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) forced a House vote in November to compel DOJ to release its complete Epstein archive, and the department has since presided over a staggered document dump that has been criticized by members of both parties as misleading and incomplete.

But while several high-profile individuals have suffered reputational blows from their associations with Epstein laid bare in newly-public documents, no arrests have been made in the U.S. as a direct result.

Lawmakers remain eager to show that their work has still been effective, and that hunger has led to some missteps. For one, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) publicly accused EPA administrator Lee Zeldin of taking campaign money from a Jeffrey Epstein — but the former Republican congressman actually received the money from a physician with the same name.

And Khanna read aloud a number of names on the House floor that of men who were initially redacted from the DOJ files — some of which reportedly had no apparent connection to Epstein.

In an interview this week, Khanna said Congress’ work must culminate in prosecutions for those involved in Epstein’s scheme.

“We need to look at what Britain’s doing, what France is doing, what Norway is doing, and have those kind of prosecutions here,” he said.

“I just want to see prosecutions,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) also said in an interview.

After the Clintons are deposed Thursday and Friday, the committee has scheduled testimony from two co-executors of Epstein’s estate. Earlier this month, the panel heard from billionaire businessman Les Wexner, a onetime client of Epstein whose fortune helped fuel Epstein’s wealth. The former CEO of Victoria’s Secret insisted he severed ties with Epstein around the time that authorities were investigating sex crimes allegations against the late financier and accused Epstein of stealing from and lying to him.

While some members of the panel are clamoring to subpoena more witnesses, Comer suggested his committee’s strategy could now shift as the midterms approach and the 119th Congress comes to a close. The panel, he said, could soon turn to new questions — including some that have been the subject of conspiracy theories.

“Was Jeffrey Epstein a spy? Was he an agent?” Comer said. “Was he trading secrets with the U.S. government, the Israeli government — you know, the Middle Eastern government?”

“I’m trying to make sure the committee understands we’ve got to really focus on a timeline here,” Comer said. “It took six months to get the Clintons in.”

Congress

Capitol agenda: Jeffries gets preview of his future headaches

Published

5 hours ago

June 23, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Trouble for Hakeem Jeffries is brewing close to home.

New Yorkers will decide Tuesday whether to support a slate of insurgent progressive candidates who are bullish about bucking the party establishment: Brad Lander, Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez.

The Zohran Mamdani-backed trio are taking on incumbent, leadership allies: Reps. Dan Goldman, Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Adriano Espaillat as well as outgoing Rep. Nydia Velázquez, who endorsed a different successor.

The progressive challengers are positioning themselves as firebrands willing to play hardball to force the Democratic Caucus leftward. Take Chevalier, a Democratic Socialists of America member who told Vox last week that “all deportations are wrong” including for people who have been convicted of breaking U.S. law. Neither she nor Valdez have said if they would back Jeffries as speaker should Democrats take the majority.

In addition to presenting a long-term headache for a potential Jeffries speakership, progressive challenger wins would deliver an immediate blow to Jeffries’ credibility as a power broker in his own backyard. He endorsed Goldman and Espaillat.

As Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer weighs a 2028 reelection bid, he too will be paying close attention to the depth of lefty, anti-incumbent fervor among voters in his state.

Democratic leadership’s old guard will also be on watch Tuesday evening as Maryland decides who will replace former Majority Leader Steny Hoyer: his preferred successor Adrian Boafo or his old frenemy Nancy Pelosi’s pick of former Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn.

Democrats have been divided on the race from the jump, with Gov. Wes Moore and Sen. Angela Alsobrooks also backing Boafo. Fellow Marylander — and maybe 2028 presidential candidate — Sen. Chris Van Hollen got in on the action last month by knocking Boafo for taking AIPAC and crypto money.

And a PSA: The many, many self-funded campaign ads from warring Democratic millionaires Rep. April McClain Delaney and her predecessor David Trone – who is trying to win his seat back after losing a Senate bid in 2024 – will come to an end Tuesday night.

Republicans won’t escape the messy primary day.

In Utah, House GOP leadership member Rep. Blake Moore will attempt to beat challenger Karianne Lisonbee who is taking him to task for once opposing partisan gerrymandering. An AI proxy war is also playing out in Rep. Celeste Maloy’s district where former state Rep. Phil Lyman is attacking the congresswoman — who has received nearly $1 million from an Anthropic-funded super PAC — over data center construction.

Yet, at least one House Republican is pulling for a Democrat Tuesday evening.

Vulnerable GOP Rep. Mike Lawler has meddled in the Democratic primary to run against him. Jason Beeferman reports that Lawler has tried to tear down Army vet Cait Conley via a covert text blast, among other tactics, seeming to prefer that he get to run against her opponent Beth Davidson.

What else we’re watching:

— TRUMP TO GET SAVE AMERICA ACT REALITY CHECK IN SENATE: President Donald Trump was invited to Republican senators’ lunch Wednesday to push for his No. 1 priority, the GOP election bill known as the SAVE America Act. But several outgoing Republicans who have clashed with Trump said Monday they will be there to deliver a reality check: The bill isn’t passing, and it’s time to move on.

— SCHUMER FORCES IRAN WAR POWERS VOTE ON WARY GOP: Schumer Tuesday plans to force the Senate to vote on a House-passed Iran war powers resolution – putting on record Republicans who are publicly skeptical of Trump’s agreement last week to end the conflict. The measure won House approval earlier this month after four House Republicans joined Democrats to effectively halt military operations unless Congress authorizes it.

Jordain Carney contributed to this report.

Congress

Senate Republicans exclude Democrats’ food aid demand from farm bill

Published

16 hours ago

June 23, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Republicans’ farm bill proposal rejects Democrats’ demands to delay a planned shift of some food aid costs to states, according to three people familiar with the plans — jeopardizing hopes of winning bipartisan support for the package.

Democrats say they will oppose a farm bill that doesn’t push back a requirement that will soon force some states to pay for some Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, a provision included in the domestic policy megalaw Republicans passed last year.

Senate Agriculture Chair John Boozman (R-Ark.) gave Senate staff and industry representatives a private preview of his farm bill text Monday afternoon ahead of a planned public release of the discussion draft at 2 p.m. Tuesday, according to the people, all of whom were granted anonymity to discuss the not-yet-public plans.

Boozman will need some Democratic support to guarantee the bill can clear the 60-vote threshold on the Senate floor.

A GOP spokesperson for the Agriculture Committee said Boozman had “developed a discussion draft that can earn the bipartisan support needed for Senate passage.” The spokesperson added that Boozman will continue talks with senators and industry representatives while “finalizing text and moving toward a markup.”

The draft legislation also excludes some Republican and agriculture industry priorities, such as provisions that would allow year-round sales of E15 fuel and block states from creating certain animal welfare and pesticide labeling laws, according to the three people.

Senators from both parties are already eyeing how they might amend the bill to include their priorities. That could muddy the legislation’s path forward by generating a number of conflicts during the committee’s markup ahead of a potential floor vote on the package.

Some GOP senators whose state budgets would be hard hit by the change have privately indicated that they would support delaying the provision, which is set to begin October 2027.

Those senators and anti-hunger advocates argue the SNAP cost-share plan will kick people off the program and lead to benefit cuts. Democrats also note that many states will already receive delays or exemptions to the cost-share requirement due to high or low payment error rates.

Boozman said in an interview last month that he was “open to listening” to Democrats’ argument, but contended it could complicate his efforts to craft a budget-neutral bill.

The Senate’s version largely mirrors the House’s, which passed with 12 Democratic votes in April. Boozman is aiming to mark up his bill between the chamber’s Fourth of July and August recesses.

Congress

Senate Republicans say it’s time to give Trump a reality check

Published

16 hours ago

June 23, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Donald Trump is about to come face to face with one of his frequent punching bags: Senate Republicans.

They might just be in a mood to punch back.

The president was invited to GOP senators’ Wednesday lunch to push for his No. 1 priority, the GOP election bill known as the SAVE America Act. But several outgoing Republicans who have clashed with Trump said Monday they will be there to deliver a reality check: The bill isn’t passing, and it’s time to move on.

“I’m going to be there front and center,” Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told reporters. “It will be important if it actually is a constructive exchange of different opinions, and hopefully we can all get on the same page. Right now, we’re not in a great place.”

Cornyn, who recently lost his bid for a fifth term to a Trump-endorsed challenger, reiterated the votes just aren’t there to pass the elections bill: “I’ve been around here long enough and been through enough battles and counted enough votes to know that it doesn’t just magically occur, no matter how much you wish it would happen.”

Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) — who are also departing the Senate in part due to Trump — said Monday they, too, will be at the closed-door lunch and urged Trump to turn the page on the SAVE America Act.

“I’m a co-sponsor, but it doesn’t have the votes, and so it’s time to talk about something else,” said Cassidy, who also lost to a Trump-backed primary opponent.

Trump was invited to the Wednesday lunch by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who oversees the weekly gathering as GOP steering committee chair, at a tenuous moment. Senate Republicans have grown frustrated with Trump’s fixation on the elections bill, are openly questioning parts of his Iran deal and worry that his habit of blindsiding them with sudden policy U-turns is making it harder to preserve their majority in November.

Scott’s invitation comes as the elections bill has emerged as a perennial headache for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, whom Scott informed of the invite after it was extended. Thune and other members of the GOP conference insist it doesn’t have the votes to pass and have begged Trump to focus on more attainable priorities.

Same goes, they say, for other Trump demands — killing the 60-vote filibuster threshold for legislation, for instance, and ending the “blue slip” practice of giving home-state senators a say on some presidential nominees.

“None of those are going to happen here, and we need to be honest with the president,” Tillis said. “So why don’t we spend more time being productive about how we communicate, when we communicate, and get some of these very pressing issues done?”

But Trump has shown he will not relent, especially on the SAVE America Act — a bill that would impose new proof-of-citizenship and identification requirements for U.S. voters in its base form, with the president demanding still other controversial provisions added on top of that.

In a Truth Social post late last week, Trump name-checked Thune and urged the Senate to nix the filibuster and approve the bill: “Anybody who doesn’t want to Terminate the Filibuster is a FOOL, a very stupid one, at that!”

Several GOP senators, including Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, have objected to the precedent the bill would set by nationalizing election procedures. Test votes on the bill have not garnered more than 48 supporters, though a narrower bill focused on voter ID won 50 votes. That’s still far short of the 60 votes needed to defeat a certain Democratic filibuster.

Asked late last week about Trump’s comments, Thune said a majority of Senate Republicans have long-held views against nixing the filibuster.

“It’s not a question of what I want to do or don’t want to do,” he said. “It does always come back to the math. And … there just aren’t the votes to do it.”

Thune said Monday that he “wouldn’t be surprised” if the election bill comes up but predicted it would be a “back and forth” between Trump and GOP senators over multiple subjects, including the brewing Iran deal and the stalemate over a key surveillance law and future of the director of national intelligence post.

He added that “hopefully” the discussion would include “celebrating some of our successes, talking about the path forward.”

The GOP election bill has become a consistent friction point within the party and within the Senate GOP conference. Senate Republicans largely support the bill but believe the party needs to turn its focus to Democrats, rather than fighting each other, with just months to go until the midterms.

Republican senators have kvetched for months about how they believe Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is setting unrealistic expectations for the bill’s passage. Lee posted on X over the weekend that he spoke with Trump and “he’s as convinced as I am that we can get this done if the Senate’s willing to do the hard work.”

Cornyn called out Lee Monday, saying that he “is contributing to this fantasy that somehow it’s going to happen.”

Lee responded that the election bill isn’t a fantasy but “a plan to avoid a nightmare — one that’s coming soon unless we act.”

Senate Republicans agreed to take up the voting bill earlier this year, in part after leaders privately reassured wary GOP senators that the debate wouldn’t result in an attempt to skirt the 60-vote filibuster. But the weekslong debate failed to break the stalemate on the bill, and Senate Republicans ultimately placed it on the back burner as other legislative deadlines piled up.

Conservatives, however, hadn’t forgotten about the bill, and now they want the Senate to continue to vote on it.

Scott — who came in third in the leadership contest Thune won after the 2024 election— sent a letter to his fellow Senate Republicans Monday, a copy of which was obtained by Blue Light News, saying that he wanted to have “robust conversations” this week about what the party should be focused on before the midterms. That, he said, should include voting on the SAVE America Act or narrower voter ID legislation.

“We need to make a clear distinction as to who the good guys are and who the bad guys are,” Scott wrote in the letter. “We need to show voters that we are listening to them and will fight for their priorities whether any Democrats vote with us or not.”