U.S. Rep. Erin Houchin, R-Ind., has voted against forcing a full House vote on whether U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi should release any records related to Jeffrey Epstein.
Houchin, whose 9th District includes Bloomington, serves on the U.S. House of Representatives Rules Committee. She was among seven Republicans who voted against a motion that would have compelled the full House vote.
For years, members of President Donald Trump’s inner circle have called on federal officials to release their files on Epstein, a disgraced financier and convicted sex offender who died in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges, according to USA Today, a sister publication of The Herald-Times.
The FBI and the Justice Department said this month their investigation concluded Epstein died by suicide. The agencies provided a link to video footage from the common area of the Special Housing Unit where Epstein was housed at the time of his death, though, based on time stamps, the footage appeared to be missing a minute. Bondi said the missing minute stems from the Bureau of Prisons practice of resetting the video every night since it is an outdated 1990s-based system, USA Today wrote.
According to Wired magazine, the video’s metadata shows the raw video footage likely was manipulated, though the magazine said, “There is no evidence the footage was deceptively manipulated, but ambiguities around how the video was processed may further fuel conspiracy theories about Epstein’s death.”
The Associated Press on July 12 reported the Justice Department and FBI were “struggling to contain the fallout from (last) week’s decision to withhold records from the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation, which rankled influential far-right media personalities and supporters of President Donald Trump.
“The move, which included the acknowledgment that one particular sought-after document (an Epstein client list) never actually existed, sparked a contentious conversation between Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino at the White House this week,” the AP wrote.
Trump takes to Truth Social on the Epstein files
Trump on Saturday took to his Truth Social platform to suggest the Epstein files had been created by his political opponents.
“They created the Epstein Files, just like they created the FAKE Hillary Clinton/Christopher Steele Dossier that they used on me,” Trump said.
The Steele Dossier is a collection of memos from a former British intelligence officer that implied Russia had some compromising information with which to pressure Trump, though, according to the Washington Post, the memos contained only “raw intelligence” or “essentially high-grade gossip, without the expectation it would be made public unless it is further verified.”
On Monday, the House Rules Committee voted on a motion by U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., who introduced an amendment from U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, D- Calif., which would have forced a vote by the full House on whether to compel Bondi to “preserve and release any records related to Jeffrey Epstein.”
The committee has 13 members, including nine Republicans and four Democrats. All Democrats voted in favor of the motion, while all Republicans, except two, voted against. U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C. voted with Democrats. U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, did not vote, according to the committee’s official record.
Houchin’s press secretary, Parker Armstrong, did not immediately reply to an email Tuesday requesting an interview with Houchin or an explanation for her vote.
Boris Ladwig can be reached at bladwig@heraldt.com.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Houchin votes against forcing vote on release of Epstein files
Reporting by Boris Ladwig, The Herald-Times / The Herald-Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
