Republicans who dodged Epstein vote now want credit
Congressional Cowards is a weekly series highlighting the worst Donald Trump defenders on Capitol Hill, who refuse to criticize him—no matter how disgraceful or lawless his actions.
GOP lawmakers are patting themselves on the back over the fact that President Donald Trump will now be forced to release the Epstein files.
Of course, the lawmakers who now want credit for the virtually unanimous passage of the bill don’t deserve it. For months, they either stayed silent as Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson blocked a vote on the bill or made excuses for their delay tactics.
In actuality, just four Republicans can take credit for the success of the legislation.
Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, and Nancy Mace of South Carolina stuck their necks out to join Democrats in signing a discharge petition requiring Johnson to put the bill up for a vote—even though he really didn’t want to.
Greene lost her relationship with Trump over the bill, while Boebert was dragged into the White House so Trump could pressure her to remove her name from the petition—a demand she refused to heed.
Once the petition was successful, Trump reluctantly gave his blessing to Republicans to vote for it—knowing that it was going to pass anyway.
It’s no profile in courage to have refused to support the bill and then demand credit once it passed, but that didn’t stop Republicans from doing just that.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise ludicrously told The New York Times that the passage of the bill was, “an important vote to continue to show the transparency that we’ve delivered,” even though he tried to fend off a vote on the bill for months.
And Rep. Kat Cammack of Florida never advocated for the bill, but that didn’t stop her from claiming credit for its passage.
“Accountability cannot be partisan. Whether addressing systemic cover-ups or holding colleagues in Congress to a higher standard, my responsibility is to deliver transparency for the American people and defend the integrity of our institutions,” she wrote on X. “Thank you to Fox 35 Orlando for having me on this morning to discuss why this work matters and why justice must prevail.”
Rep. Jen Kiggans of Virginia also wanted credit, saying in a statement that she was “proud that the House took action today to expose the truth,” even though she did nothing to ensure the vote would happen.
But perhaps the most shameless Republican is Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas. Before the discharge petition succeeded, Nehls wrote on X that he would be “voting NO on the Epstein Hoax.”
“The Democrats are using the Epstein Hoax to distract us from the winning of President Trump and his administration,” he wrote. “My message to my Republican colleagues: Don’t let this noise keep us from delivering on the mandate the American people gave us.”
But Nehls quickly changed his vote to a “yes” once Trump gave his blessing.
“As President Trump has said, we have nothing to hide. I voted YES to release the files so we can move on from the smear campaign the Democrats have manufactured, and continue to advance policies that benefit hardworking Americans,” he wrote on X.
Thankfully, the Republicans who actually fought for the bill’s passage slammed their own leadership and fellow lawmakers for their spinelessness.
“The speaker was dragged to it kicking and screaming, but here we are,” Massie, who co-sponsored the bill, said after it passed. “It’s not necessarily a rebalancing of the branches of government, but a rebalancing of the people against the executive branch.”
