Jul 29, 2025 9:22:09 pm
The Senate’s leading Democrat is set to tee up the latest twist in the saga of the secret files of former financier and convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer plans to call for an FBI investigation Tuesday into whether foreign governments are trying to use the Epstein files against U.S. President Donald Trump.
Democrats have seized on Trump’s reluctance to release the files as a political vulnerability, but this latest move by Schumer is an attempt to elevate the scandal to having potential national security implications. Per Politico’s Playbook, Schumer will call for a ‘risk assessment to examine whether foreign countries might have tried to access the Epstein files and possibly use the information therein as leverage over Trump.’
At a press conference during his trip to Scotland on Monday, Trump said that all of the hubbub about the files was a ‘hoax’, while also noting that the ‘files were run by sick, sick people’ during the last administration who can ‘put things in the file that was a fake.’
“They ran the files. I was running against somebody that ran the files, If they had something, they would have released it. Now they can easily put something in the files that’s a phony.”
Only 16 percent of respondents to a recent Emerson College poll said they approve ‘of the Trump administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.’ By Victoria Churchill for DMail, 29/7
NATIONAL SECURITY IMPLICATIONS: Speaking on Monday’s episode of Piers Morgan Uncensored, Megan Kelly said it was ‘hard to have a lot of sympathy’ for the administration due to its numerous missteps on the Epstein issue.
‘Whoever told the [Justice Department] that this could somehow be buried and that people would move on and that the Trump administration could get away with that ridiculous two-page summation of “You’re not getting any more information because there’s no there there” should be fired,’ Kelly said.
‘That person is an idiot and didn’t understand the Republican base – certainly the core MAGA base.’
Kelly noted that Trump appointed Kash Patel and Dan Bongino, two outspoken supporters of the theory that Epstein was murdered in jail to protect his powerful associates, to lead the FBI.
YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW: ‘And by the way, of course [the MAGA base’s] hackles have been up and their interest in this story has been at a peak in large part because of the two men Trump put in charge of his FBI – you know, there were no bigger proponents of there being more to the Epstein story than Kash Patel and Dan Bongino,’ she said.
‘And it’s actually one of the reasons why the Republicans were so thrilled to see them get put in charge of the FBI. So, you reap what you sow.’
Kelly went on to comment on Epstein’s accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, currently speaking with investigators from her Florida prison. The former Fox News host branded the move a weak attempt by the administration to get on top of the scandal, while also calling its bid to release grand jury transcripts from Epstein’s criminal proceedings another empty gesture.
Trump made the move knowing the court was not likely to release the transcripts, Kelly claimed.
As for Maxwell, she said: ‘Can we really trust anything this woman says when she – it’s either this: give something up or someone up, or spend 20 years in jail. So, they’ve really created this own pickle for themselves and we still haven’t had a presser by Pam Bondi or even a long-form interview. So, it’s hard to have a lot of sympathy for the complaints of why won’t this go away.’ By Alex Hammer for DMail, 29/7.
UPDATE 30/7: Senate Democrats are using an arcane procedural tool to try to force the Department of Justice to release additional files from the Jeffrey Epstein case – the latest gambit to keep the issue front-and-center as lawmakers prepare for their month-long August recess.
In a new letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Democrats who sit on the Senate Homeland Security Committee requested DOJ release all of the files related to Epstein, including audio, video and any other relevant documents.
“After missteps and failed promises by your Department regarding these files, it is essential that the Trump Administration provide full transparency,” the group wrote in a later dated Tuesday.
The letter goes on to request the documents be turned over no later than August 15 and that appropriate accommodations be made to protect victims’ identities. The Democrats are also requesting a briefing no later than August 29.
Democrats are basing their request on a nearly 100-year-old law that allows five or more members of the Senate Homeland Security Committee to request information from the administration even when they are in the minority and lack subpoena power. – Lauren Fox and Katelyn Polantz, CNN.
Images of protests in Scotland over the weekend. ✊🏻❤️✌🏼