Only one Republican who helped pass the law ordering release of the Epstein files escaped Trump’s political retribution. But,Eric Garciawrites, the issue has not left the public consciousness
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On Tuesday, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.)lost the Republican primary for governor in South Carolina. Mace lost partially because President Donald Trump endorsed Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette.
Almost immediately, Mace said she likely lost Trump’s endorsement because she had joined the bipartisan discharge petition drafted by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) to force a vote to release files related to Jeffrey Epstein.
This cameeven though during the processMace explicitly toldThe Independent, “No one has threatened me” and that “the president hasn't threatened me, and the president didn't ask me to get off the discharge petition.”
The loss means Mace — the moderate-turned-MAGA Republican who took to harassing Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.), the first openly transgender member of Congress — will not be returning to Washington.
Mace’s loss makes her the third House Republican to lose their primary after challenging Trump on Epstein. Massie lost his last month. And Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene resigned months ago after a public break with Trump on Epstein.
And Trump is already targeting Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) for supporting Massie, even though the filing deadline to challenge her already passed.
“The retribution series continues,” Massie toldThe Independenton Wednesday “The good thing is those three women helped me get a law passed. Not a subpoena, not a resolution. The president signed it.”
Trump has spent an inordinate amount of time focusing on tamping down the internal party revolt on Epstein. And on Wednesday, an excerpt ofThe New York Times’s Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman‘s new book allegedly revealed just how much time.
The excerpt reports that Trump’s close advisers, including Vice President JD Vance, then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, huddled in the Situation Room to figure out how to handle Epstein with then-Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel joining by speakerphone.
The new Swan-Haberman excerpt reported that the Trump administration viewed this as a major public relations crisis, with Vance even reportedly suggesting that Tucker Carlson, the right-wing media provocateur, interview Epstein’s ex-girlfriend and accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell.
