The Epstein saga has kicked off again – and it’s looking bad for Trump

Republicans have just delivered Trump a devastating blow in the latest turn of wheel

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WASHINGTON DC – Republicans in the House of Representatives delivered Donald Trump a wakeup call on Tuesday. The good news for the White House: they voted to subpoena, among others, former president Bill Clinton and Secretary Hillary Clinton, compelling them to testify before the House of Representatives Oversight Committee as it investigates the Jeffrey Epstein affair.

But they simultaneously delivered devastating news, sending a subpoena to Trump’s own Department of Justice in a fresh effort to force the White House to release Epstein-related documents and other evidence that many core Republican supporters suspect are being covered up.

Bill and Hillary Clinton have been subpoenaed former for testimony on Jeffrey Epstein (Photo: Shawn Thew / AFP)

Publicly, congressman James Comer of Kentucky – the pro-Trump bulldog who chairs the committee – is vowing to haul the Clintons over the coals within the next 10 weeks. In a pugnacious social media posting, he announced that Hillary Clinton will be deposed by the Committee on 9 October, with her husband following on 14 October.

Neither Clinton has yet agreed to that timeline, and both are expected to face probing questions from Republicans about the former President’s friendship with Epstein. Trump’s unproven allegations that Clinton made as many as “28 visits” to Little Saint James, Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean, are sure to loom large in the conversation.

If the Clintons agree to appear, it will be a blockbuster moment on Capitol Hill, even if their depositions are taken behind closed doors. Democrats stand accused of dragging their feet over the Epstein affair during President Joe Biden’s administration due to their concerns about the involvement of President Clinton and other prominent party grandees with the financier.

Only last month, House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi told MSNBC that conversations about Epstein were a “distraction” from “the kitchen table needs of the American people”. The less she wants to talk about the Clintons’ friendship with Epstein, the more Trump tries to deflect public attention towards it.

The Federal Prison Camp, a lower-security facility in Texas where Ghislaine Maxwell has been transferred to continue serving her 20-year sentence (Photo: Adrees Latif/ Reuters)

But the subpoena issued to Trump’s Department of Justice is monumentally challenging for the White House. Three Republicans on the committee abandoned Trump and backed a move by Democrats demanding access to all Epstein documents no later than 19 August.

With Congress in recess, many House members have spent the past fortnight getting an earful from their grassroots supporters. A growing number of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” voters are demanding the complete transparency over the Epstein affair that he promised on the campaign trail last year.

The committee also made it clear that prominent Republicans were in their investigative crosshairs. Former Attorneys General Bill Barr and Jeff Sessions are among 10 former officials slated to appear for depositions. They headed the Department of Justice during Trump’s first term, before each endured a spectacular falling-out with him. Committee members are sure to ask what they know about sex trafficking and other criminal acts within Epstein’s inner circle, and why no efforts were made during Trump’s first term to get to the bottom of it.

Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend, is also facing demands to testify before the Committee. Over the weekend, it emerged that she has been moved from Florida to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas, where she continues to serve a 20-year sentence for recruiting and trafficking minors for sex.

Speculation is growing that Trump may offer Maxwell leniency, possibly even a pardon, if she supplies evidence that top Democrats were in league with Epstein while giving him a clean bill of health. She was relocated to Texas after spending two days last month being interviewed by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal lawyer.

Trump denies having been involved in the decision to dispatch Blanche to Maxwell’s prison cell, and denies having made any decision about whether to pardon her.

Even a decision to reduce Maxwell’s sentence would be enormously high risk for Trump. Maga is frothing about Epstein, and even a commutation of Maxwell’s prison term would prove very hard for the White House to justify. But Trump, already facing uproar, needs the Epstein story to find a resolution – one that leaves him unscathed.