'Not going away': Senate Republicans begin to turn on Trump

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with reporters, as he departs for travel to Pennsylvania from the South Lawn at the White House in Washington, D.C. U.S., July 15, 2025. REUTERS Jonathan Ernst

President Donald Trump wants the Jeffrey Epstein scandal to go away — but according to Republican senators, that is not going to happen.

“Republican senators are putting pressure on Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Justice Department to release all files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that mention President Trump’s name, warning the issue won’t go away until there is full transparency,” reported The Hill on Thursday.

The Republican senators are particularly concerned that Trump’s failure to fully comply with the Epstein File Transparency Act, which required him to release all the files, and the fact that he particularly suppressed 2019 claims made by a woman who says she was sexually assaulted by Trump as a 13-year-old in the 1980s.

“Release the documents,” said Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.), a member of the Judiciary Committee. “Redact the names of the victims. Don’t release photographs, naked or otherwise, of minors. Release the documents. This is not going to go away until there is full disclosure.”

Epstein later added, “This is not going away until there’s full disclosure and the American people want to know, and they’re entitled to know, who if anyone, did Epstein traffic these women to … and why they weren’t prosecuted.”

Sen. Susan Collin (R-Maine) offered a more subdued version of Kennedy’s criticism.

“I don’t know what the circumstances are and whether there’s legitimate reasons for redactions or withholding since he’s currently in office, but that would seem to be contrary with the intent of the law,” Collins told The Hill.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) also argued that “when we pass a law that says that all documents need to be put out, it seems to me all documents need to be put out.”

Senate Republicans are also weary with the overall Trump administration response to the Epstein scandal. An unnamed Republican senator told Semafor that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who appeared multiple times in the Epstein files, would have been fired "if it were anybody but President Trump" in the White House.

"It’s despicable. And everyone knows it," the Republican told Semafor. "He looked at the American people and lied like a dog. And I suspect more is going to come out."

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who has also been outspoken in criticizing Trump’s handling of the Epstein scandal, accused former Fox News host Greta Van Susteren of having “Epstein brain warm” while appearing on her Newsmax show. Van Susteren claimed Trump’s attorney general Pam Bondi had done all she could.

"It’s like you all have an Epstein brain worm," Massie wrote. "She needs to release more names, not fewer names. Specifically she’s withholding and over-redacting FD-302 forms and other documents that name coconspirators. Did you even watch the hearing before making this post?"

Ed Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL and Army Ranger endorsed by Trump to oppose Massie in the upcoming primary, said of Massie “I’d call him a Judas. You can’t even call him a Benedict Arnold.”

Massie responded, “My constituents already know I’m ‘America First,’ I’m not for starting another war. I’m not for deficit spending. And I led the charge to expose a bunch of rich and powerful and politically connected men in the Epstein files. Those are the areas that I’ve differed with the president. So where I differed with the president, my constituents understand why I’ve differed with the president.”

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