Top Republican says Trump's new Epstein demand is a 'big smokescreen'

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), a leading, bipartisan advocate in the U.S. House of Representatives for forcing the Department of Justice to release all of its unredacted files related to late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, says that President Donald Trump's push to investigate Democrats allegedly involved with Epstein is one big ruse, Politico reports.

Speaking to ABC’s Jonathan Karl on “This Week” on Sunday, Massie says the Justice Department's investigation into Epstein’s ties to notable Democrats coming from Trump after the release of explosive emails and documents mentioning him is “a last-ditch effort to prevent the release of the Epstein files.”

“If they have ongoing investigations in certain areas, those documents can’t be released,” Massie says. “So, this might be a big smokescreen, these investigations, to open a bunch of them to, as a last-ditch effort to prevent the release of the Epstein files."

Explosive emails referencing Trump from Epstein's private correspondence have been publicly released by the House Oversight Committee. These emails were obtained from Epstein's estate as part of a congressional probe into the federal investigation of Epstein.

In one of those emails, an April 2011 exchange with Epstein's convicted sex trafficker co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein referred to Trump as the "dog that hasn't barked," noting that a victim (later identified by Republicans as Virginia Giuffre) "spent hours at my house with him , he has never once been mentioned" in the ongoing legal issues."

Upon the release of these emails, Trump directed his Attorney General Pam Bondi to begin investigations into former President Bill Clinton, among other Democrats, writing on Truth Social, " “This is another Russia, Russia, Russia Scam, with all arrows pointing to the Democrats.”

On Friday, Bondi promised to pursue the investigation “with urgency and integrity to deliver answers to the American people” after assigning Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to lead the probe, Politico reports.

Although just three of Massie’s Republican colleagues signed on to the discharge petition (Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Nancy Mace (R-SC) and Lauren Bobert (R-CO)),Massie says hopes to "secure a veto-proof majority on his legislation, which would require a two-thirds vote in both the House and the Senate."

Massie says he anticipates “a deluge of Republicans” — perhaps even more than a hundred — to support the bill."

Massie, Politico reports, says he urged Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) to “do the right thing” and bring the legislation up for a vote in the Senate.

“Not only the speaker, but the attorney general, the FBI director, and the president himself, and the vice president, they’re taking a big loss this week, because after months of fighting, I am winning this week with Ro Khanna,” Massie says. “We’re forcing this vote, and it’s going to happen.”=