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.
Just try’na get a jump on stuff with all this busy summer weekend traffic & such. What a petulant little man he is. Given the opportunity, I’d happily show him what those tortoise shell frames look like in reverse.
He’s stalling while republicans think of ways to sanewash pedophilia.
Hopefully a hacker busts in and retrieves the list.
Nothing says “Nothing to see here” like shutting down a portion of the government.
Johnson give dicks a bad name.
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…
Guys we can’t release the files, there’s CSAM in there, tHiNk oF tHe cHiLdReN!!!
Wonder how many of these legislators are on the list.
Wonder how few aren’t.
how many word leaders, DONORS to both parties, thats who they are protecting.
Gaslight. Obstruct. Project (and also pedophilia apparently)
Guardians Of Pedophiles
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.
Waste of human flesh, Mike Johnson.
What do we pay these people for?
We don’t pay these people, they do.
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
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?”
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?
I guess he figures that when they return, everybody will have forgotten about Epstein.
He’s probably right.
First thing Democrats should do when they get back is demand the files be released again. Not like Republicans will allow anything that actually benefits the public to be done, might as well just troll them.
And they should absolutely run on that - “I will release (or support the release of) the Epstein Files on Day One.”
Every Democratic candidate should say that over and over. Don’t dwell on it, don’t expand on it, just make that statement. Make the MAGAs blather about why it’s good to support child molesters.
And they should absolutely run on that - “I will release (or support the release of) the Epstein Files on Day One.”
They should have run on that in 2024. Made a big huge issue of it during the campaign.
Instead we got “Look! dick cheney likes me!”
He’s an absolutely disgusting excuse for a human being and coincidentally has a terrible poker face. The first thing I noticed is that he’ll have a shit eating grin on his face for the entire duration of an interview while talking about fucking people over (even while not talking) but on all the interviews about Epstein that shit eating grin is completely gone.
