Donald Trump’s sudden about-face on Jeffrey Epstein—whose death in jail, during Trump’s first term, has been a particular fixation among his supporters—seems to have shaken some of his base’s devotion, prompting the president to wonder in a Truth Social post over the weekend, “What’s going on with my ‘boys’ and, in some cases, ‘gals?’”
One lawmaker trying to get answers is six-term congressman Marc Veasey, a Texas Democrat who on Monday introduced a resolution demanding the Trump administration “immediately” release all files related to Epstein, convicted fixer Ghislaine Maxwell, and other associates. “Thank you for your attention to this matter,” he wrote in a post announcing the measure, borrowing a rhetorical flourish from Trump.
The resolution—which also calls for House inquiries into the matter—may face an uphill path in the chamber, where Speaker Mike Johnson has affirmed his fealty to the president. Johnson has also expressed faith in Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has been singled out by conspiracy hounds for failing to produce an Epstein client list that was supposedly sitting on her desk for review. Still, Veasey told me he’s prepared to use “whatever techniques are available to get it out on the House floor,” where Republicans—many of whom have spent years using Epstein’s death as a shorthand for a deep-state Democratic cover-up—would have to go on record with a vote. “Put up,” he said, “or shut up.”
In an interview with Vanity Fair, which has been lightly edited for clarity and length, Veasey discusses his new resolution, the MAGA divide over Epstein, and how Trump’s handling of the situation reflects a broader theme of his presidency: “Trump,” he said, “looks out for really rich people.”
Vanity Fair: Tell me about the thinking behind this resolution.
Congressman Marc Veasey: The biggest thing is to bring transparency around this whole deal with Epstein. For years now, you have people at the highest levels of government, including the president of the United States, who have said that there’s a list of people that have committed crimes—that frequented Epstein Island and partied with Epstein. The president was saying that. So was Kash Patel, who’s now the director of the FBI. That was a claim that was repeatedly made by Dan Bongino. I heard Dan Bongino make the claim myself, because he had a show that was syndicated in the Dallas-Forth Worth area on one of our AM talk stations. So with people at the highest levels of government saying there’s something there, we need for them to be transparent about this and release the files. It’s really that simple. [Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has said there there is “no daylight” between the FBI and the Justice Department and that both Patel and Bongino signed off on Bondi’s memo. Patel suggested on social media that reports of a rift between him and Bondi are “conspiracy theories.” Bongino, the deputy FBI director, was reportedly furious with Bondi and his future is unclear, though Trump said he “thinks” he will stay on in his role.]
What are your expectations for this resolution? Obviously, as you mentioned in a post announcing it, no Republicans signed on as cosponsors. Do you expect any Republican support for this?
I actually do think that a lot of Republicans would be supportive of this. We’re going to do everything we can to try to get it out—whatever techniques are available to get it out on the House floor—because, again, they said that something is there. Warren Davidson from Ohio, who has been a big MAGA guy, said himself on one of the cable news shows this afternoon that there’s something there, and there needs to be transparency behind it. So you know, we have voices like that, and voices like mine that are coming together to say, Hey, we need to see these files. I think that’s very important.
