Oversight Committee Republicans are accusing their Democratic counterparts of using the House's ongoing investigation into Jeffrey Epstein to attack President Donald Trump rather than find closure for the late pedophile's victims.
Fox News Digital obtained a 10-page internal memo written by GOP committee staff for lawmakers on the panel that argued Democrats intentionally misrepresented information obtained by Republicans to create a narrative that was not there.
"Unfortunately, during this investigation, Oversight Committee Democrats, led by Ranking Member Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), have intentionally mischaracterized witness testimony and selectively released information with targeted redactions in an effort to create another hoax involving President Trump," the memo said.
"When the Majority released the full set of documents, Democrats claimed that this transparency was meant to ‘disorient’ and ‘distract’ from the false narrative they had been attempting to construct about President Trump."
The committee's months-long investigation was launched by a bipartisan push for transparency but has since devolved into partisan fighting as both sides blame the other for focusing on the wrong things.
Democrats have accused Republicans of using the probe to cover for Trump, who was known to have been an associate of Epstein's but never tied to any wrongdoing.
But the committee's GOP majority, which has released thousands of pages of documents obtained from both the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Epstein's own estate, has contended that it is dedicated to transparency for the victims and has accused Democrats of politicizing the probe.
"The Democrats have uncovered nothing new, have released no document not provided at the request of Republicans, and have only succeeded in reinforcing what the American people already knew: President Trump knew Jeffrey Epstein decades ago, President Trump ended the relationship with Epstein, and President Trump did not participate or know about the nature of Epstein’s evil," the memo said.
"Committee Democrats have overpromised and underdelivered, and now they paw through every new document production looking for a single term: Trump."
Documents released by the committee so far appear to neither concretely prove nor disprove that Trump was aware of Epstein's crimes, but the president himself has consistently denied any improper links.
In their memo, Republicans pointed to former Attorney General Bill Barr's deposition where he appeared to clear Trump of wrongdoing, at least in his knowledge of the probe.
But they accuse Garcia of intentionally twisting the facts by claiming Barr had "limited knowledge" of the case.
The memo also accused Democrats of having "selectively leaked" three emails earlier this month out of roughly 23,000 documents handed over by the Epstein estate in a bid to portray Trump in a negative light.
The GOP memo accused Democrats of having "made their own redactions to deceive the media and American people," including the name of late Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre, "who stated that she never witnessed wrongdoing by President Trump," the memo said.
"Democrats also redacted ‘she was the one that accused prince andrew’ [sic] in another Epstein email. By making this redaction, Democrats took away important context in the email that named Virginia Guiffre [sic], who worked at Mar-a-Lago, made allegations against Prince Andrew, and was recruited by Ghislaine Maxwell in the parking lot," the memo said.
"This changes the meaning in Epstein’s email where he states, ‘of course he knew about the girls as he asked Ghislaine to stop.’"
The GOP memo also pointed out that Democrats leaked pages of Epstein's infamous "birthday book" that included Trump but did not publish a message purportedly written by former President Bill Clinton.
It also accused Democrats of failing to help the committee bring in the Clintons for questioning, despite both being issued subpoenas earlier this year. The only figures who have testified so far have been tied to Trump.
"Democrats are not concerned with transparency or justice," the memo said. "The evidence the Oversight Committee has gathered does not implicate President Trump in any way. Democrats must stop playing games in this investigation."
The memo is dated Sunday, two days before the House is expected to vote on a bipartisan bill demanding the DOJ release all of its files related to Epstein.
House GOP leaders had previously been against the effort, arguing the bill as written could lead to the release of information that could harm Epstein's victims, while also claiming it was unnecessary given the Oversight Committee's investigation.
But a mechanism known as a discharge petition, led by Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., is allowing the majority of House lawmakers to override leadership's wishes and force a vote on the bill.
Trump encouraged Republicans to vote in favor of it in a Truth Social post Sunday night, telling the GOP, "We have nothing to hide, and it's time to move on from this Democrat Hoax."
Fox News Digital reached out to the committee's Democratic minority for a response.
1 comment:
Just when you think you everything...another secret file emerges. Shit!
Post a Comment