OAN Staff Blake Wolf and Brooke Mallory
3:10 PM – Tuesday, July 15, 2025
The House voted down a procedural rule that would have allowed debate and a vote on the GENIUS Act, two related crypto bills — the CLARITY Act and the Anti‑CBDC Surveillance State Act — and the Defense Appropriations bill.
The full House later voted on the procedural rule to advance the GENIUS Act and related measures. However, that motion failed 223–196, derailing floor debate on the GENIUS Act—but by that point, the Jeffrey Epstein amendment was already excluded, since it had been blocked the night before in committee.
A growing group of hard-line Republicans objected to advancing the GENIUS Act without adding a ban on a central bank digital currency (CBDC)—a priority from Trump’s January executive order, ABC News reported.
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Democrats, led by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) had also attempted to attach an amendment to the procedural Rules resolution for the GENIUS Act (and other bills)—aiming to compel the DOJ to release all Jeffrey Epstein–related documents. This effort was voted down in the Rules Committee 6–5.
The Epstein amendment aimed to mandate Attorney General Pam Bondi and the DOJ to preserve and publicly release within 30 days all records and evidence related to Jeffrey Epstein’s investigations, prosecutions, and incarceration — including the so-called “client list.”
“Last night, the Speaker’s Rules Committee voted to block my amendment that called for the full release of the Epstein files while protecting the victim’s identity. Lets just be clear, they voted to protect rich and powerful men who were abusing, assaulting, and abandoning young women,” Khanna stated.
However, despite Khanna’s recent push to release the files, social media users on both the left and right have since questioned why he didn’t push for the release of the files under former Democrat President Joe Biden, and why he chose to stuff the amendment into the GENIUS Act, a completely unrelated cryptocurrency focused bill.
The GENIUS Act (S.1582)—which is short for Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act—a landmark bipartisan bill aimed at regulating U.S. dollar‑pegged stablecoins, strives to bridge crypto and traditional finance.
Nevertheless, the Epstein-related amendment failed in the House Rules Committee, as only GOP Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) voted in favor.
The seven GOP representatives who voted against the release of the Epstein files were: Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), Rep. Michelle Fischbach (R-Minn.), Rep. Erin Houchin (R-Ind.), Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-N.Y.), Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.), Rep. Margan Griffith (R-Va.), and Rep. Brian Jack (R-Ga.).
Khanna also led a push on Tuesday for a second vote “on the Epstein release,” this time on the House floor, which Republicans unanimously voted against.
Despite the recent reporting, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) expressed that the claim is misleading, while arguing that the vote was a “procedural vote.”
“Here’s what just happened — it was a procedural vote and we have these all the time it’s called a PQ, it’s voting on the previous question. If the Democrats had won the previous question, which I know sounds insane, it’s one of these crazy rules in the House that are hard to understand, that means they would control the House floor. And that means they could bring up anything, they could bring up impeachment articles against President Trump, they could bring up a whole package of insane Democrat agenda items and force votes on the House floor,” Greene said.
The perceived mishandling of the Jeffrey Epstein files by the Trump administration has begun dividing the MAGA base, as Trump supporters have demanded further transparency following the conclusion of the investigation.
Conservative Daily Wire talk show host Matt Walsh also made comments on Monday in regard to the ongoing frustration.
“Millions of Americans are not satisfied with what we’ve been told. And we shouldn’t be because it’s been contradictory and insulting to our intelligence every step of the way,” Walsh stated.
“I want to make this very clear to those on the right, including the president himself, who are telling us to just drop the subject and move on, we can’t drop it, we can’t move on because what we want is justice. We have a deep desire for justice and we can see how the corrupt and the powerful are never held accountable,” he continued.
“We want to know who else was in those awful videos that Pam Bondi told us about and we want those people to be dragged in front of us weeping and begging for mercy. We want them exposed and humiliated and shamed and punished in the harshest and most painful way because that’s justice. And we’re not gonna drop the subject until we get it. So unseal everything including the search warrant and the financial disclosures, tell us exactly what was in those truckloads of documents that you recovered in New York, show us the phase 2 Epstein files that you told us about just a few months ago – in other words, don’t give us any more excuses from bureaucrats on Fox News. Don’t give us anymore stonewalling and double speak.” Walsh added.
“Instead for a change, give us something we’re not used to seeing from the federal government and the DOJ – give us justice.”
Walsh’s comments were referencing claims revolving around how Epstein utilized his wealth and influence to traffic underage children to global elites on his private island.
Epstein is also suspected to have been connected to intelligence agencies, according to numerous reports, including journalist Vicky Ward, who reported that Alex Acosta, the former Miami prosecutor who gave Epstein an “unprecedented” plea deal, allegedly claimed that Epstein “belonged to intelligence.”
Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell’s father, Robert Maxwell, was widely alleged to have been an intelligence agent, particularly for Israel’s Mossad, though he was also rumored to have worked with MI6 and the KGB as a “double or even triple agent,” according to former Mossad operative Ari Ben‑Menashe.
However, his claims, which are detailed in his book “Profits of War,” have not been corroborated by any other IDF official or Mossad agent.
The now-deceased pedophile “financier” was given a controversial plea deal in 2008 after pleading guilty to procuring a minor for prostitution and soliciting prostitution, allowing him to serve just 13 months in prison on work release privileges — allowing him to leave the facility for up to 12 hours a day, six days a week.
Additionally, a 2024 report by the Daily Mail cited a lawsuit from an alleged former girlfriend of Epstein’s, referred to as “Jane Doe 200.” The woman claimed that Epstein had raped her in 2001 at his New York mansion, while also alleging that Epstein had boasted about being a Mossad agent “like Maxwell’s father.”
Robert Maxwell, a British media magnate, owner of the Mirror Group newspapers, and a politically-connected businessman, had been long believed to be an Israeli spy, though he previously denied it on a regular basis. His mysterious death, in which he “fell off and drowned” while on his $26.5 million yacht off the coast of Spain in 1991, further fueled the conspiracy. A “heart attack” and “accidental drowning” is what is listed as his official cause of death.
Adding further fuel to the fire, Maxwell was also given a hero’s funeral on Israel’s Mount of Olives, which was attended by former intelligence chiefs, the Israeli Prime Minister, and the Israeli president.
Those who typically receive a hero’s funeral on the Mount of Olives would include:
- Government Leaders and National Figures
- Presidents, prime ministers, prominent members of Knesset
- Founding fathers of the state or important political leaders
- Renowned cultural or religious leaders of national significance
- High-Ranking Military Figures and Fallen Soldiers
- Senior IDF officers who served with distinction
- Soldiers who fell in battle and are recognized as national heroes
- Heroic individuals who performed extraordinary acts of bravery
- Important rabbis or spiritual leaders who have had a major impact on Israeli society or Jewish religious life
Additionally, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak met Epstein dozens of times beginning in 2013, which followed after his sex offender conviction in 2008, according to The Times of Israel.
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