Congress

‘The powerful protecting the powerful’: Democrats see an opening on Epstein

Published

7 hours ago

July 16, 2025

Democrats are stoking the online flames of the Jeffrey Epstein controversy. Internal memos and polling suggest the issue is breaking through to voters.

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) accused President Donald Trump of “hiding the Epstein list” in a post on X. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries insisted at a press conference Americans “deserve to know the truth.” The Democratic National Committee last week launched an X bot that posts daily, “Has Trump released the Epstein files? No,” and House Majority PAC rolled out a “simp target list” of “complicit” GOP members. And on Tuesday, Democrats attempted to cast a procedural vote as a referendum to compel the release of more Epstein-related material.

It’s a trollish, conspiratorial-minded response to Republican infighting that Democrats haven’t traditionally engaged in, particularly around Epstein, the accused sex trafficker whose 2019 death in prison was ruled a suicide. Just six years ago, the DNC lambasted “baseless conspiracy theories.” But now, as the Trump administration has tied itself in knots over the Epstein case, Democratic leaders have stopped holding back as they work to capitalize on fissures threatening Trump’s relationship to his MAGA base.

“I just want to remind the American people that in February of this year, Attorney General Pam Bondi acknowledged the existence of Jeffrey Epstein’s client list. In fact, she said that Jeffrey Epstein’s client list is ‘sitting on my desk right now.’ Where is that client list? What is Attorney General Bondi hiding?” Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) told reporters on Tuesday. “This is the case of the powerful protecting the powerful. We need to have those files released.”

Interviews with a dozen Democratic elected officials, strategists and aides cast the controversy as helpful not only in dividing Trump’s base but also illustrating the president’s flip-flopping tendencies, even on his core campaign issues. Democrats argued they can tie the episode into a larger narrative about Trump’s other broken campaign promises, said Pat Dennis, president of American Bridge, a Democratic super PAC that specializes in opposition research.

“It’s an interesting foot in the door to the overall case that he doesn’t have your back on Medicare, on health care, on veterans,” Dennis said. “It’s a way to get into, ‘maybe this guy doesn’t have your back,’ and that’s been one of the hardest things for Democrats to do.”

Trump told Fox News in a June 2024 interview “I guess I would” release the Epstein files.

But the opening may be short-lived. Democratic strategists said they do not expect Epstein-related conspiracies to show up in their TV ads or dominate the party’s midterm messaging, with the GOP megabill likely to take center stage.

“I’m focused on the damage that the one big bad bill is doing, and I’m going to stay focused on that,” said Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), chair of the centrist New Democrat Coalition. “And if the president’s covering up something, I’ll let him deal with that.”

There’s internal evidence that the very online dustup may still have legs for now.

Internal Democratic polling, obtained first by Blue Light News, found that 70 percent of voters said law enforcement is withholding information about powerful people connected to Epstein, including 61 percent of Trump voters, according to an online survey of more than 10,000 people conducted by Blue Rose Research from July 8 to 11. A majority believe that the “authorities are keeping secret” Epstein’s client list to “protect powerful people like Donald Trump,” including a third of Trump voters.

Two-thirds of voters said the case is important because it’s about “government transparency and holding powerful people accountable.” When asked if Trump was or may be involved in the cover up, 58 percent of voters said he maybe was or definitely was.

Another memo from Future Forward, the biggest Democratic super PAC in 2024, outlined the Epstein case’s broad, if shallow, reach among voters. The memo, shared on Thursday with party insiders and obtained by Blue Light News, highlighted several viral videos on the scandal, including a Jon Stewart segment that attracted 1.4 million views on TikTok and creator Philip DeFranco’s video calling Trump “not a happy boy” when being questioned about Epstein, racking up 1.6 million views on TikTok.

Even so, the memo warned that it’s “too early to say whether this will be of meaningful political consequence to Trump.”

“This subject is not as effective at moving Trump disapproval (or 2026 vote choice) as some of the more direct criticisms of” Trump’s megabill, the memo continued. “However, a moderately persuasive message that gets lots of views because it is timely and addresses the conversation people are having anyway is impactful.”

Republican operatives insist they’re not sweating it and believe the Epstein story will quiet within weeks. Like Democrats, they don’t think it will resonate much in next year’s midterms.

A Republican campaign strategist, granted anonymity to discuss the issue candidly, echoed it “will not be a driving issue for voters the way the economy, taxes and immigration will be.” But they advised that the “administration can address these concerns by putting out more information, explaining it more, providing more answers — all of those are very fixable solutions.”

“In the short term, Democrats might score points for hitting it, but Democrats don’t have any credibility on this issue,” this person added.

There are signs the fury among Republicans has quieted, though the issue is still simmering below the surface. Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) backed an ultimately doomed Democratic-led amendment in the Rules Committee to compel the release of more Epstein-related files. Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk said he was “done talking about Epstein” and he is going “to trust my friends in [the] Trump administration to handle Epstein files.” Other Republicans derided it as a distraction.

On Tuesday, Trump reiterated his support for Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has come under the greatest scrutiny for her handling of the case, and suggested the controversy was manufactured by Democrats.

Democrats have their own vulnerabilities on this subject. Former President Bill Clinton has acknowledged associating with Epstein, though he has vigorously denied any knowledge of his crimes.

But on Capitol Hill, Democrats made clear they’re going to try to yolk their GOP rivals to Epstein.

“They said they were going to do something after stoking up all of this conspiracy themselves … [now], they’re in the position where they can be transparent and share with all the inquiring minds, and they won’t do it,” said Lori Trahan (D-Mass.). “And so it just begs the question, you know what, why not?”

Democrats are looking to pump that narrative back into the digital ecosystem. Dennis confirmed that American Bridge is working with influencers “to make sure that everybody in our ecosystem has the background info they need to hit these folks as hard as possible.”

Still, not all of the hits might land. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) attracted some eye rolls on social media for posting a song about releasing the “Epstein files.”

Mia McCarthy and Brakkton Booker contributed to this report

Congress

Oz to huddle with House tax writers

Published

1 hour ago

July 16, 2025

Blue Light Newsroom

Democrats and Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee are set to have a bipartisan meeting next Wednesday with Mehmet Oz, President Donald Trump’s administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, as congressional tax writers eye year-end health care legislation following their work in helping craft the “big, beautiful bill.”

According to a notice of the meeting viewed by Blue Light News, Ways and Means members are invited “to discuss the priorities” of CMS on July 23, including issues “involving health care matters” that fall within the jurisdiction of the panel.

Conversation could turn to what’s next for Ways and Means and its counterpart in the Senate, the Finance Committee, where Republicans are actively discussing interest in moving an overhaul to the operations of pharmaceutical benefit managers, the intermediaries who negotiate drug prices between pharmacies and manufacturers.

Discussion next week could also focus on the critical role Oz played in reassuring Senate Republicans that hospitals in their states could tap into a rural hospital relief fund amid steep cuts to Medicaid in the GOP megabill.

Congress

Zohran Mamdani briefs House Democrats on lessons from his campaign

Published

2 hours ago

July 16, 2025

Blue Light Newsroom

Zohran Mamdani, the polarizing Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, huddled privately Wednesday with Democratic lawmakers at a Washington restaurant. The conversation, attendees said, focused on campaign strategy and lessons learned from his surprise win.

Those included “the effective communications strategy that they employed, very dynamic and natural,” said Rep. Chuy Garcia (D-Ill.). “And it allowed him to project who he is and his vision for New York.” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) organized the event, which was billed as a “communication and organizing skill share” breakfast.

Ocasio-Cortez and Mamdani both left the roughly two-hour meeting without appearing or speaking with reporters. A Mamdani spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

As Democrats search for a winning message and campaign strategy heading into the 2026 midterms, some in the party have pointed to Mamdani’s campaign and its social media virality as evidence they need to focus more on cost-of-living issues than other hot-button culture war issues.

Attendees were largely from the left flank of the party; centrists have publicly and privately expressed concern about Mamdani, who identifies as a Democratic Socialist, being a liability for the party nationally. Hakeem Jeffries, the top House Democratic leader and a fellow New Yorker, has so far withheld an endorsement pending a meeting with Mamdani.

Rep. Laura Gillen (D-N.Y.), who represents a purple Long Island district, has gone so far as to brand Mamdani as “too extreme” to lead the city. But those leaving the meeting spoke positively about him and his campaign.

“There is no debating that the campaign that he ran was a successful one. His economic message, his ability to cut through and just speak to people’s pain points in New York City,” said Rep. Lori Trahan (D-Mass.). “And then how he did it, right, the videos, the media, the volunteers, the organizing. … We talked about the lessons from that campaign and how it can really impact the way we speak to voters.”

“The party can learn a lot from him and AOC about digital communication and organizing,” added Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.).

Congress

Trio of crypto bills back on track, Scalise says

Published

2 hours ago

July 16, 2025

Blue Light Newsroom

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said he expects votes on all three cryptocurrency bills that Republicans are pushing to go to the House floor Wednesday, though leadership is still weighing how to sequence or combine them.

“We’re bringing all of them,” Scalise said in a brief interview. “We’re back on track. And exactly what the combination will be, we’re talking through that, but all three bills will be encompassed in the work we do today.”

The slate of crypto bills includes a sweeping market structure measure known as the CLARITY Act, Senate-passed stablecoin legislation called the GENIUS Act and a third measure to ban a central bank digital currency.

“They’re all going to pass,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) told reporters entering the speaker’s office Wednesday morning. How they pass, though, remains an open question.

GOP leaders could seek to merge the CBDC ban into the CLARITY Act in order to appease conservative hard-liners who brought down a key procedural vote Tuesday. The holdouts say they secured a promise from Trump to add CBDC language into CLARITY, but GOP leaders have balked at directly linking the two.

The market structure bill has bipartisan support, but most Democrats oppose banning a CBDC, which is a government-issued digital dollar that conservatives say would open the door to privacy invasions.

A senior Republican granted anonymity to describe private scheduling conversations said if the sequencing isn’t figured out today, the entire slate of bills could get pushed into next week.