.S. President Donald Trump reacts as he speaks to members of the media on board Air Force One en route from Scotland, Britain, to Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., July 29, 2025. REUTERS Evelyn Hockstein

IPaper journalist Andrew Buncombe said the Epstein scandal may have taken a back seat to President Donald Trump’s more recent news, but the specter of Epstein is not going anywhere. In fact, Buncombe says it will be waiting for Republicans when they return to Congress.

“Before they left Washington DC, Democrat Ro Khanna of California, and Republican Thomas Massie of Kentucky, filed a motion that allows any member of the chamber to force a vote if a majority signs on,” Buncombe wrote. “This means many Republicans will be forced to do as their constituents want and vote for the release of all files, or risk angering Trump who wants nothing more than this issue to go away forever.”

Republican leaders made clear how keen they were to avoid the issue earlier this year, when Republican Speaker Mike Johnson closed the session early and sent members of Congress home to avoid a vote on the release of files containing information about Epstein.

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But even though Johnson allowed Congress to temporarily delay the reveal, Buncombe reports Republican constituents have been hammering social media for years, hoping the files will confirm their suspicion that powerful Democrats, including former President Bill Clinton and others were involved in the abuse of children.

After promising to make the file public, U.S. attorney general Pam Bondi and FBI head Kash Patel shocked Trump’s followers, and their own, with multiple announcements that there was no Epstein “client list” and the FBI needed no further investigation. And the recent appearance of former Attorney General Bill Barr before members of the House has done nothing to allay suspicion.

The steady drip of new information pertaining to Trump’s enduring friendship with Epstein is doing its part to keep the public aware, said Buncombe. The Wall Street Journal published a note Trump allegedly wrote to Epstein for his 50th Birthday that incited the president enough to promise a lawsuit against the paper.

On Friday, the House of Representatives’ Oversight Committee will receive the first of many files from the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) investigation into Epstein. And Buncombe said Democrats appear eager for Republicans to get the insight they’ve been demanding for years.

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“We’re going to keep the pressure up – 100 per cent. … As often as we can,” Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) told reporters, “until we know exactly what happened, why it happened.”

Read the full IPaper report at this link.