When Jeffrey Epstein Won’t Go Away - 7/28/25
For someone who died almost seven years ago, Jeffrey Epstein seems like he’s going to be around for a while. And as Donald Trump’s supporters argue that it’s “time to move on” from questions regarding Epstein’s past, Trump himself seems to realize that the story is not going away and is now accusing Barack Obama, who last ran for office in 2012, of rigging two other presidential elections.
This may sound like a somewhat warped and highly politicized version of “Back to the Future,” but it’s now becoming clear that both parties see past controversies as key to the present midterm campaigns—and therefore to the country’s future after next November. Next year’s congressional elections will still center around voter feelings about the economy, immigration, and other contemporary issues, but both parties will spend an inordinate amount of time and energy trying to motivate their respective bases with tales from yesteryear.
When we last discussed the Epstein matter one week ago, it was still unclear as to whether enough congressional Republicans would support Democratic efforts to force the release of additional information from the Justice Department to keep this sordid story in the news after Congress returns from recess at the end of August. But by the time Speaker Mike Johnson hurriedly adjourned the House last week in order to avoid committee and floor votes on the Epstein files, it had become clear that even reliable Trump allies were prepared to vote for further disclosure.
The willingness of GOP members to disregard White House pressure means two things, neither of which is helpful to Trump: that Epstein and his past friendship with the future president will be front and center when Congress comes back to work in the fall, and that the congressional recess will be dominated by questions about the topic in the meantime. Republicans had looked at this time back in their districts as an opportunity to convince voters of the benefits they would realize from the newly passed federal budget. But with Epstein casting a giant shadow over the political landscape, it’s likely that Trump’s tax cuts and spending reductions will receive much less attention from angry constituents than questions about whether Epstein and his clients received special treatment and protection from the government.
Some Democrats are nervous about putting too much emphasis on Epstein at the expense of kitchen table issues that will have a more direct impact on the lives of Americans and their families. But even if the political debate has shifted in that direction a year from now, party leaders see this as an opportunity to separate Trump from his most loyal backers for the first time and to inspire their own progressive base by reminding them of all the things they despise most about the current occupant of the White House. It’s becoming increasingly apparent that an unusually low turnout from young voters, minority communities, and other Democratic stalwarts was the major contributing factor to Kamala Harris’ defeat last year. Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries see this as a way of relighting those partisan flames for the first time since the 2020 election.
After Trump’s initial efforts to dismiss the questions surrounding Epstein were unsuccessful, he then switched to his long-time tactic of introducing an even bigger and more controversial story to distract both media and voters. Last week, I referenced his demand that the Washington football team return to its former nickname. He has also generated headlines on trade, China, and Coca-Cola. But his renewed focus on what he believes was Obama’s culpability in reports from the US intelligence community regarding Russia’s attempts to influence the outcome of the 2016 election suggests that his primary objective now is his own base of MAGA loyalists.
He has used Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and Attorney General Pam Bondi to push the Obama story forward, but Deputy Attorney General General Todd Blanche’s meetings with Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell received far more attention. And a steady stream of news coverage regarding other aspects of Trump’s past dealings with Epstein and the struggles of his congressional allies to avoid questions on the topic will keep this topic at the center of political discussion for the foreseeable future. If Trump does find a way to change the subject, it will be the result of a dramatic announcement on a present-day challenge—in Ukraine, Gaza, or elsewhere—not by revisiting his own previous attacks, assertions, and allegations.