MTG, Massie defy Trump in push for Epstein transparency
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Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna during a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 3. Photo: Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie framed their break from President Trump over sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's files as a moral battle for victims.
Why it matters: Greene and Massie are testing whether Republicans can openly defy Trump and survive, betting that standing with Epstein victims is a powerful enough shield to withstand the wrath of a president who has commanded near-absolute loyalty from the MAGA base.
Driving the news: Greene (R-Ga.) told CNN's "State of the Union" Trump was "extremely wrong" for calling her a traitor amid their split over her push for more transparency related to the disgraced financier's case.
- "Unfortunately, it has all come down to the Epstein files," she told Dana Bash on Sunday. "And that is shocking … I stand with these women, I stand with rape victims."
- She questioned why the president is fighting so hard against the release of the files, saying victims she has spoken to did not accuse him of wrongdoing.
Between the lines: Greene's stunning rift with Trump is emblematic of the tensions within the MAGA movement exposed by the ongoing Epstein debacle and aggravated by the White House's resistance to a bipartisan House effort to release additional files.
- Massie (R-Ky.), a leader of the quest to force a House vote on the files, predicted a "deluge of Republicans" could vote alongside him and Greene in defiance of the White House.
- He argued on ABC's "This Week" that Trump's recent demand for a DOJ investigation into Epstein's connections to former President Bill Clinton and others could be "a big smokescreen" to create an ongoing investigation that would prevent the release of the files.
Catch up quick: Trump publicly announced his political divorce from Greene, whom he called "Wacky," a "ranting" lunatic and a "Traitor."
- Greene was one of a handful of Republicans who signed the discharge petition led by Massie and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) despite the president's opposition.
- She said the "most hurtful thing" Trump said was that she was a traitor. She told Bash, "Those are the types of words used that can radicalize people against me and put my life in danger."
- White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson didn't address Greene's or Massie's comments but said in a statement, "Democrats and the mainstream media are desperately trying to use this hoax as a distraction to talk about anything other than the President's many wins, including the Democrats getting utterly defeated by President Trump in the shutdown fight."
The other side: Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) told NBC's "Meet the Press" the fight is "not about truth. It's not about justice" but rather "an attempt by the Democrats to make President Trump a lame duck president."
- "To me, what's going on with the Epstein … is the Democrats trying to appeal to their far left base and trying to change the topic from a failed shutdown."
- Barrasso declined to commit to holding a vote if the House measure passes: "We'll look at it. … The Senate will make a decision. We'll have a discussion about it and make a decision from there."
House Speaker Mike Johnson told Fox News Sunday that the House "will just get this done and move it on," saying the Oversight Committee would release even more documents than Massie and Khanna's petition would.
- "President Trump has clean hands. He's not worried about it. … He has nothing to do with this," Johnson said, adding that Trump "is frustrated that they are turning this into a political issue."
What we're watching: But Massie laid out the cold political calculus for his colleagues on ABC: "This vote, the record of this vote will last longer than Donald Trump's presidency."
- In a post-Trump world, he warned, a vote to "protect pedophiles" will be a more enduring stain than a vote that defied a second-term president.
- Khanna, Massie's partner in the effort, told NBC's "Meet the Press" that Trump is losing his MAGA base because he ran against a "corrupt, governing elite" that "shafted" the "forgotten Americans."
- Now, Khanna said, "he's forgotten those forgotten Americans, and we are saying that we are going to stand up for survivors, for America's kids, and we're going to hold this class accountable."
Our thought bubble: Axios' Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei wrote Sunday that while MAGA still supports the president, the movement "is now mired in conflict."
- Greene and Trump "were mostly synonymous for years. But America Firsters like her now think MAGA indulges Trump too much on foreign engagement, especially Israel," Allen and VandeHei wrote.
Go deeper: Democrats inject "Epstein files" into special election that's scaring GOP
