Outgoing Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who last week lost his re-election bid after serving seven terms, vowed on Sunday that during his remaining seven months in office, he would publicly identify individuals linked to Jeffrey Epstein whose names, critics have said, had been unlawfully redacted in Justice Department files.“I’ve got seven more months to keep going against the grain,” Massie told NBC News’ Kristen Welker during an appearance on the network’s “Meet the Press.”Welker noted that Massie had legal protections for remarks made while on the House floor, and as such, asked the Kentucky Republican whether he intended on identifying individuals connected to Epstein as he and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) had done in the past.“As you’ve noted, the Speech or Debate Clause actually protects you from being prosecuted for whatever you say on the floor of the House,” Welker said. “You have named names in the Epstein files in the past – can we expect you to name more names in the coming weeks and months?”Massie responded by bluntly saying “yes” before going on to accuse Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche of “violating the law” by continuing to withhold millions of files related to Epstein.“There are still millions of files they haven’t released, we know from talking to the victims’ lawyers that their own 302 forms haven’t been released, we know the files have been over-redacted,” Massie said. “I don’t think it’s possible to get to convictions with Todd Blanche at the top and with the FBI director – Kash Patel – at the top, because they’ve effectively both perjured themselves by saying that there’s nobody else in the files. Even Melania [Trump] doesn’t believe that, the first lady knows that Jeffrey Epstein didn’t act alone!”🇺🇸 Thomas Massie says he will publicly read the names of Epstein clients before leaving Congress.HERO! pic.twitter.com/3DbhIWeFy0— Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 (@jacksonhinkle) May 24, 2026
Several top Democratic candidates in the midterms are airing scathing ads linking their Republican foes to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal — betting that the Trump administration's reluctance to release the Epstein files still resonates with voters.Why it matters: Democrats are mostly focusing on high prices, health care and Trump's war against Iran, but some also are trying to tie Republicans to the late sex offender as part of a broader message accusing the GOP of protecting the corrupt elite.Zoom in: In the hotly contested Ohio Senate race, Democrat Sherrod Brown has spent nearly $1.5 million on TV ads slamming his GOP rival, freshman Sen. Jon Husted, for previously taking donations from Epstein financial client Leslie Wexner, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact.In fact, the only two ads Brown has aired this year have attacked Husted over Epstein, per AdImpact.Husted spokesperson Amy Natoce told Axios the campaign has "donated all available funds" from Wexner "to an anti-human trafficking charity."Husted's campaign has also noted that Brown previously accepted donations from Wexner's wife. Wexner, for his part, has said that Epstein conned him.Graham Platner, the presumptive Democratic nominee in the Maine Senate race — a must-win contest for the party's hopes of gaining a majority in the Senate — also is making anti-Epstein messaging part of his strategy to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins.In a six-figure TV ad, Platner accuses Collins of selling out voters to "the president and to the Epstein class," as an old video of Epstein and Donald Trump flashes across the screen.In Georgia's Senate race — one of the GOP's best opportunities to flip a seat this year — Sen. Jon Ossoff (D) likewise has argued in speeches and media interviews that Trump's administration is made up of "the Epstein class."What they're saying: Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat who spearheaded the push to release the Epstein files alongside Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), feels vindicated by the anti-Epstein ads."The establishment class thought I was crazy when I first pushed to release the Epstein files," he told Axios. "They said nobody would care. Nobody would vote based on it.""What they missed is that Epstein goes to the core of what people hate about Washington: a rigged system where the rich and powerful play by different rules."Republican National Committee spokesperson Kiersten Pels responded to a request for comment by accusing Democrats of hypocrisy because of their own ties to Epstein: "The same party now trying to weaponize Epstein to distract from their own failed policies spent years cashing Epstein-linked checks.""Their outrage is nothing more than cynical political theater from a party with no message and no credibility," she added.Zoom out: Democrats and their allies in state and federal races this cycle in Wisconsin, Tennessee and New Mexico also have aired ads tying their rivals to Epstein, or mentioning him while making a larger anti-Washington argument.It's unclear whether such spots will resonate with voters. Despite loud voices on the right bashing Trump over his handling of the Epstein files, Massie was unable to use the issue to rally many Republicans to his side.Massie was targeted by Trump's political machine and lost his bid for reelection in last week's GOP primary.Even so, many Dems believe an anti-Trump, anti-GOP Epstein argument will register with the overall electorate.The other side: Some critics have argued that the phrase "Epstein class" is an antisemitic dog whistle. Others have pushed back on that notion and pointed out that Jewish politicians, such as Ossoff, are among those saying it.The intrigue: Democrats aren't just slamming Republicans over their supposed ties to Epstein — they're bashing fellow Democrats, too.In New Mexico's gubernatorial election, an outside group ran negative advertising linking ex-Interior Secretary Deb Haaland (D) to Epstein. Her Democratic opponent, former Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman, also said in a spot, "Unlike others, I'm not in the Epstein files."Haaland aired a six-figure ad that pushed back, calling her opponents' claims "lies."A local news station reported that the outside group's ad was "false" and "misleading."
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The post WATCH: Thomas Massie Vows to Read Redacted Names in Epstein Files on House Floor Before Leaving Congress, Says Todd Blanche and Kash Patel “Perjured Themselves” appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
Trump biographer Michael Wolff remains unfazed after a MAGA-appointed federal judge tossed his lawsuit against Melania Trump on Friday."She may have actually effectively ruled against the Trumps without saying so," Wolff said in a podcast episode on Saturday, referring to the federal judge who dismissed his suit against Melania. "Kicking the case out of federal court by default puts it back into state court, which is what we wanted in the first place."Wolff sued the first lady last year after her lawyers threatened him with a defamation lawsuit because he connected her to Jeffrey Epstein.On Friday, New York-based U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil, a Trump appointee, accused Wolff in a scathing opinion of trying to go around the standard legal process by pre-emptively suing Melania instead of defending himself against her lawsuit."I mean, we knew from the beginning, when we drew a Trump judge in federal court in the Southern District in New York, that that was problematic," Wolff said. "She was in this incredibly awkward position of having to decide a case directly involving the president's family."According to Wolff, he filed his lawsuit in a New York state court, but Melania's lawyers moved it to federal court. Vyskocil then determined that Melania is a Florida resident."One of the ways you get to be a federal case is if the parties are from two different states," the New York-based Wolff explained. "This is an important point because if the judge found that she doesn't live in Florida, then it would not have been a federal case."Wolff said he would have preferred to see the case play out in a New York state court because of "what are called anti-SLAPP laws, which is to say that you can't use threats of libel to intimidate people."From what he can tell, Melania "lives in New York" and "never effectively moved out of Trump Tower."He added, "This is and has always been, from our side, a free speech case. It's not about money."
The Trump administration has kept a Michigan coal-fired power plant operating nearly a year past its scheduled retirement date to meet rising energy demand, even as lawsuits unfold and critics warn the move could cost ratepayers. Over the past year, the Department of Energy has been at the forefront of keeping aging coal plants operating […]
