House Republicans start recess early

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – House Republicans ended their week early after Democrats threatened to force a vote on the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Some House Republicans have joined with Democrats to force a vote on the release of more records from the Epstein case.

President Donald Trump is trying to unite Republicans by talking about former president Barack Obama and the 2016 Russia investigation.

“People are afraid of getting crossways with the White House. But they need to remember, this was a promise,” said Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.).

Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie and several House Republicans teamed up with a Democrat, Ro Khanna, to try to force a vote for the complete release of the Epstein files but instead of voting on it House leaders canceled all of the votes this week.

“They’re literally adjourning Congress because they don’t want to face the voters,” said Khanna.

President Trump last week directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to release credible information from the grand jury transcripts.

“There’s no purpose for Congress to push an administration to do something that they’re already doing,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).

Massie says that’s not enough.

“There are hundreds of pages of documents. There are plea deals, agreements that we don’t know about,” said Massie.

President Trump turned the attention from the Epstein case to some familiar opponents.

“Obama was trying to lead a coup. And it was with Hillary Clinton and with all these other people,” said Trump.

President Trump is referencing a report released by the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard. It appears to try to downplay Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Multiple investigations, including a bipartisan investigation in the Senate, found Russia tried to interfere in the 2016 election.