{"id":7607,"date":"2026-07-15T23:35:58","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T23:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7607"},"modified":"2026-07-15T23:35:58","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T23:35:58","slug":"jeffrey-epstein-is-ubiquitous-on-a-busy-day-on-capitol-hill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7607","title":{"rendered":"Jeffrey Epstein is ubiquitous on a busy day on Capitol Hill"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fallout from the handling of the convicted sex offender\u2019s cases continues to cast a shadow over President Donald Trump\u2019s second term.<\/strong><\/p>

Read more The World Cup final is set, with Messi and Argentina facing Yamal and Spain for the title on Sunday<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Former Goldman Sachs senior counsel Kathryn Ruemmler, center, arrives for a House interview regarding her ties to Jeffrey Epstein on Capitol Hill in Washington on Wednesday. (AP Photo\/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Like other powerful figures before her, the former top lawyer for Goldman Sachs made her way to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to answer for her relationship with the late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Behind closed doors, the House Oversight Committee grilled Kathryn Ruemmler about chummy emails she exchanged with Epstein that appeared in investigative files released last fall by the Justice Department.<\/p>\n

Across the Capitol, two figures involved in that flubbed <\/b>disclosure and its fallout for the Trump administration faced their own sharp questions. In separate Senate confirmation hearings, Democrats pressed Todd Blanche, President Donald Trump\u2019s nominee for attorney general, and Jay Clayton, his pick for director of national intelligence, about sloppy redactions that exposed explicit photos and other personal information of Epstein\u2019s victims.<\/p>\n

More than half a year after lawmakers <\/b>passed a law that forced the Trump administration<\/a> to release long-sought documents from the government\u2019s case against Epstein, the issue continues to roil Congress.<\/p>\n

The coincidental convergence Wednesday of three hearings in which Epstein played, to varying degrees, a prominent <\/b>role illustrates how enduring the scandal has become in politics and how it continues to cast a shadow over Trump\u2019s second term.<\/p>\n

During a taping of \u201cThe Joe Rogan Experience,\u201d Vice President JD Vance acknowledged the administration had overstated what it could provide to the public as it was \u201ctrying to respond to the political moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe absolutely screwed up the comms of the Epstein files. Like, we just did,\u201d Vance said on the podcast. \u201cBut do I think the reason we screwed up the comms is because we were trying to hide something? No.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ruemmler was the latest in a parade of people from Epstein\u2019s orbit \u2014 including former president Bill Clinton and Microsoft founder Bill Gates \u2014 to appear before the House Oversight Committee. The panel has spent months probing how Epstein\u2019s political and business connections may have helped him escape accountability for running an alleged sex trafficking ring.<\/p>\n

Judges and lawmakers say that over decades, Epstein abused, trafficked and molested<\/a> scores of girls, many of whom have since come forward in court and other public forums. Federal authorities arrested Epstein on sex trafficking charges in 2019 and he died in custody later that year in what was ruled a suicide.<\/p>\n

Emails included in the Epstein files documented a longstanding correspondence with Ruemmler, a former White House counsel to President Barack Obama, who offered advice to Epstein on how to handle questions about his 2008 charge for soliciting prostitution from a minor, for which he ultimately pleaded guilty. Following <\/b>a public outcry, Ruemmler announced in February that she would resign from Goldman Sachs at the end of June.<\/p>\n

In her opening remarks to the committee, Ruemmler expressed regret for her dealings with Epstein but said she had never witnessed any criminal activity<\/a> \u2014 testimony that Democrats said rang untrue.<\/p>\n

\u201c[If] I had seen or heard any evidence suggesting that he was abusing women or girls, I would have immediately reported him,\u201d Ruemmler said, according to prepared remarks.<\/p>\n

With the committee\u2019s work largely taking place out of view, the ongoing inquiry has offered Democrats another cudgel to go after Trump and his agenda.<\/p>\n

Outside of the hearing Wednesday, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-California), the top Democrat on the committee, said Blanche\u2019s handling of the Epstein files should disqualify him from becoming the country\u2019s chief law enforcement officer.<\/p>

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\u201cUnder no circumstance should the Senate confirm Mr. Blanche as attorney general,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cMr. Blanche is someone that completely, completely made a mockery of the whole Epstein investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

While running for president in 2024, Trump fanned conspiracy theories that Epstein was killed to protect powerful people whom he provided underage girls for sex. Trump pledged to release Justice Department files related to Epstein\u2019s 2019 arrest, which many believed would expose a client list.<\/p>\n

Then after taking office last year, the Trump administration reversed course, affirming that Epstein died by suicide and declining to make more documents public. That fueled new speculation <\/b>on social media that Trump had become part of the cover-up after learning that his name appeared in the investigative files.<\/p>\n

Trump and Epstein had a close friendship before falling out in the mid-2000s, but authorities have not accused Trump of participating in Epstein\u2019s criminal conduct.<\/p>\n

Led by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) and Ro Khanna (D-California), Congress voted in November to compel the Justice Department to release its unclassified records related to Epstein, with some exceptions.<\/p>\n

The ensuing disclosure, overseen by then-deputy attorney general Blanche, was delayed and plagued with errors revealing sensitive data or unnecessarily withholding relevant information. Lawmakers complain that millions of documents have never been released.<\/p>\n

Blanche \u2014 who as acting attorney general approved a deeply unpopular agreement this spring with Trump to create a $1.8 billion fund<\/a> for people claiming to be targeted by political prosecutions \u2014 has drawn skepticism even from some Republicans and faces a tough path to confirmation in a closely divided Senate.<\/p>\n

With several Epstein accusers watching, Blanche apologized during his confirmation hearing Wednesday<\/a> for mistakes in the Epstein file redactions. But under questioning from Democratic senators, he largely <\/b>defended his handling of the release and his decision to meet last summer with Ghislaine Maxwell, the former Epstein assistant and girlfriend who was convicted of sex trafficking in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis administration, when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein, has been more transparent than any past administration, than Biden was or anybody else,\u201d Blanche said.<\/p>\n

Critics of Clayton, currently the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, have not brought up the Epstein files as often in their objections to his confirmation. His office, which had handled the Epstein prosecution in 2019, joined Justice Department lawyers to review documents before release.<\/p>\n

But the chaos still hangs over him. On Wednesday, Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-New Mexico) pushed Clayton<\/a> to take responsibility for fumbling the redactions.<\/p>\n

\u201cHarry Truman used to have a sign on his desk that said, \u2018The buck stops here,\u2019\u201d Heinrich said. \u201cWho has that sign on their desk in this case?\u201d<\/p>

Read more SMU launches a Heisman push for Kevin Jennings and is putting QB\u2019s name on a new recovery center<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cFor the Southern District documents, it was me,\u201d Clayton said.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fallout from the handling of the convicted sex offender\u2019s cases continues to cast a shadow over President Donald Trump\u2019s second term.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nJeffrey Epstein is ubiquitous on a busy day on Capitol Hill - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7607\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jeffrey Epstein is ubiquitous on a busy day on Capitol Hill - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fallout from the handling of the convicted sex offender\u2019s cases continues to cast a shadow over President Donald Trump\u2019s second term.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=7607\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-15T23:35:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/e30437b614e0222f2e2507a13b7ee19b-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7607#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7607\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"Jeffrey Epstein is ubiquitous on a busy day on Capitol Hill\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-15T23:35:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7607\"},\"wordCount\":1139,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7607#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/cb89e795e67d55ab2df3d2e0e8972e8f-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7607#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7607\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7607\",\"name\":\"Jeffrey Epstein is ubiquitous on a busy day on Capitol Hill - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7607#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7607#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/cb89e795e67d55ab2df3d2e0e8972e8f-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-15T23:35:58+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7607#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7607\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=7607#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/cb89e795e67d55ab2df3d2e0e8972e8f-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/cb89e795e67d55ab2df3d2e0e8972e8f-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Goldman Sachs senior counsel Kathryn Ruemmler, center, arrives for a House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing regarding her ties to Jeffrey Epstein, on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, July 15, 2026, in Washington. 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