Speaker Mike Johnson said he would send lawmakers home early for their summer recess in order to head off Democratic demands for votes on calling for the release of files from the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.
Mr. Johnson implied that his concerns about transparency had been alleviated, for now, by Mr. Trump’s move to authorize Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek the public release of grand jury testimony from the prosecution of Mr. Epstein. That is a far cry from the breadth of information the president’s supporters have demanded, yet it appeared to be enough to persuade the speaker.
Headline from NYT “Breaking news” newsletter.
What a weak ass, pedophile protecting, pathetic little man, hiding behind self righteous claims of “family values” and a “strong patriarch.”
You know what Moses would do in this situation? Lead by showing support for the protection of kids from the same pedophiles he’s afraid of exposing.
What do we pay these people for?
We don’t pay these people, they do.
I mean we do too, but its chump change compared to the kickbacks they get from those who are “too big to fail.”
Talk about entitlement. “I simply can’t be exposed. How would society ever carry on without my generational wealth pulling the strings from the shadows?”
They still make a lot from us. And it increases yearly for inflation, and lifetime benefits for Healthcare… all those things they vote against for us.
Might want to specify which they, just so people don’t misinterpret it as (((they)))
oh dear b-but that’ll ruin my laconism
That’s a cool word! Thanks for introducing me to it XD
Pedophiles covering for pedophiles. It’s the GOP way!
Gamey Old Pedophiles
So turns out this is the real reason they’re against abortions. I always thought it was the labor they could exploit. I guess it’s both
Labor for the ugly kids, rape for the rest.
Government Efficiency
Trump raped kids.
The scary part is people are trying to argue that children can give consent, and they aren’t Republicans.
Mike Johnson loves pedophiles
Why else is he spying on his son like that? Creep behavior
He thinks that his son is cheating on him. So insecure.
hasnt he been to conversion therapy?
May be Trump taped hos mom and Mike Johnson is Trump’s lust child?
The look you get when you are run cover for pedos.
Looks like a pedophile himself. Not doing any favors covering for them.
Everyone in the GOP looks guilty as fuck.
Tune in next week as we learn, yet again, that their supporters have literally no bottom they’re not willing to dig past to show the world they can go even lower.
personally i think johnson looks like an adorable teddy bear
with a dark underside
Trying to imagine how my employer would feel if I left my job early without doing the work.
This is him doing their work.
Actually he is doing his job correctly. Protecting pedophiles is his job.
Republicans protecting pedophiles. Must be a day that ends in ‘Y’
Johnson’s a pathetic bussy.
The most damning thing we’re learning from all of this is how unbelievably gullible and stupid Trump sycophants are.
While I understand the sentiment, I don’t feel like that’s a particularly fresh revelation… If anything, I was surprised at the handful of dissenting voices on the right. Even before this latest wave of Epstein news, I was willing to bet Trump could just straight up admit to pedophilia and still wouldn’t lose much of his base.
I think the Trump regime is getting push back on Epstein because they made a big deal of it during the campaign. And a bunch of their talking heads piled on the Epstein will out a bunch of Dems fantasy.
Once you have faith in a Sky Daddy, evidence doesn’t matter and Truth is whatever you “feel in your heart”
The way Republicans are handling this is actually extremely unpopular with the MAGA crowd too, it’s basically the first time that Trump’s base has been in outright disagreement with him on an issue. Pretty much every political demographic in the country is in agreement re: Epstein disclosures. I think we need to show some critical support to the majority of Republicans who want the full files released, at least on this specific issue, in order to keep the pressure up until congress comes back from their big long vacation. Everybody is angry about this.
How do you even justify NOT releasing the files? Nobody has offered a single believable reason to hide them, other than to protect bad people from responsibility. It’s pretty hard to stand in the spotlight and claim you are doing the right thing.
The only possible justifications are “to protect victims” and “to protect people from baseless accusations” if there really is no proof of anything.
The first can be done with retractions. The latter is the issue for MAGA, as trump and his boosters have been claiming for years that the files are full of vile, evil shit that is being hidden and that they would expose everyone. They claimed this for half a decade, and were saying the truth was about to come out just months ago. They claimed they put 10,000 FBI agents on the case to verify the files, and gave MAGA influencers a “part 1” dossier to splash around.
Suddenly, a few months later there is nothing to see, even as more and more leaks about Trump being a pedophile hit the news.
Now they are playing games about releasing “credible” reports (i.e nothing with Trump in them or any republicans) and releasing everything but the files.
The deep in Trumps diaper state is at it again. Release the files Republiscum.
Just the GOP protecting pedophiles like always.
Nothing says “Nothing to see here” like shutting down a portion of the government.
Why is it ok that he can do this? Before you respond glibly, IT IS NOT OK THAT HE CAN DO THIS. We need to fix this shit.
Why can’t he do this? He was elected Speaker of the House.
Why is it ok to let the speaker have that kind of power?
I don’t see why it isn’t. This is the norm everywhere else. For a slightly extreme example, Prime Ministers can do the same thing. You have to have someone decide when to recess. If representatives disagree, they just vacate 'em. To counterbalance, the Speaker does not usually participate in floor debates, and is mostly responsible for other procedural and administrative stuff as well.
Is it a norm for the government to just go on a paid vacation when an uncomfortable question arises?
Not the norm, but not unexpected at all either. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Brackett_Reed#Spanish-American_War_and_resignation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_United_States_House_of_Representatives_sit-in#June_23:_Sit-in_ends
That’s very different than what we have here.
What’s your alternative to having the representatives elect one member to exclude from debates and decide when to recess?
I would start with not taking such a reductionist view of the situation
What’s the holistic view, then?
Guys we can’t release the files, there’s CSAM in there, tHiNk oF tHe cHiLdReN!!!
I just wish the right-wing base held their representatives to a higher standard or at least to the standard they hold Dems.
You mean you wish they made up insane stories from absolute fantasy to make the standard of goodness fluctuate with their whims? I dunno…
