Or they were hiding behind the likes of Bobert and MTG to avoid having to vote.

Yet they do not want to go down in history as protecting a pedophile.

We really think that republicans will do the right thing?

That is how we ended up with Trump in the first place.

A number of them CAMPAIGNED on it for the past decade, since they are MAGats and/or bought into the QAnon nonsense that lead to crap like "Pizza-gate" and "sex trafficking rings". And with Epstein's sudden demise after charges of being sex trafficker, that just fueled the fire, as they envisioned a mother lode of "Democrats" involved, since there were pics of Bill Clinton with Epstein, and a "deep state" covering it all up.

But with Bondi's "reality show" performance (complete with a dramatic flourish) about the files purportedly being right there "on her desk", and she would release them... and then suddenly, all she did was release stuff that had already been released, that seemed to be the final straw.

These are the travails of belonging to a cult.

Psychopaths often accuse others of the crimes they hare committing.
It confuses and distracts the public and prosecutors.

The cult may have bought it for sure.

But it is all backfiring now.

and that showed how brainwashed people were.

But as others have noted, the puppet masters managed to water down the outcome of Fitzmas and suppress the Mueller Report. So even with all that has come out so far with Epstein, it might end up with the same fate.

on a variety of topics.

And we are always disappointed.

The powers that be tightly control information and hide their crimes.

they thought they could avoid by helping their cult leader's coverup. Turns out that they fell for and spread his lie that the files were full of Democrats, and as always, it turns out their own party and leader are the corrupt ones who've been found out.

They know they're in the law violation zone:

Federal laws, such as 18 U.S.C. § 1519, make it a crime to knowingly alter, destroy, or conceal records with the intent to impede a federal investigation or case. Other laws, like 18 U.S.C. § 2071, specifically target custodians of public records who do so.

Tampering with evidence:
Knowingly altering, concealing, falsifying, or destroying a record, document, or tangible object with the intent to interfere with a federal investigation, a possible investigation, or any federal proceeding is a federal crime.

Penalties:
This offense can result in a fine, imprisonment for up to 20 years, or both.
Targeting specific individuals: Law enforcement officials and other government employees who are custodians of public records are also subject to specific penalties for tampering, including forfeiture of their office and being disqualified from holding any federal office.

When your vote won't affect the outcome, the value of the vote is in its PR potential.

They’re forever holding a damp finger up, testing the direction of the wind. And they’re sensing a directional change. No moral epiphanies, just soulless pragmatism.

when it comes to protecting their own asses. They know the party is over and many of them may know what is in the Epstein files.

which I'm sure was the main purpose of delaying it as long as they could.

Somebody has documents somewhere.

For insurance and protection.

For bribery and extortion.

Like Mr. Musk, one way or another.

The rogue college kids he hired seemed to have only one goal in mind.
Download any and all US govt lists and documents.

Specifically to upload everything to the cloud, then feed it into his AI models. Incredibly useful for blackmail and manipulating voters but also a back stop for executive action against him.

It would take roughly 25% of the Senate repubs going against Trump and voting for cloture on the epstein file disclosure bill. That seem unlikely.

The House votes to release the files. It goes to the Senate and 60 Senators vote to release the files. The bill goes to Trump's desk where it will be vetoed. Getting the files out there after that takes 2/3 of both houses. Do you see it getting 292 votes in the House and 67 in the Senate?

should it come to that

(There are reports of at least 100 Republicans being ready to vote YES, which would put it over 300 votes total. And if it gets anywhere close to that, it will put a lot of pressure on the Senate to put it to the floor for a vote. Then it will be up to Thune as to whether he allows a vote or not. Is he too afraid of Trump to allow a vote? Probably, but that remains to be seen. Again, based on reporting, it would not surprise me if it passed the Senate if a vote is ever allowed. The bigger question is whether it could receive 67 votes to override a veto. At this point, I would consider that highly unlikely, but each step along the way weakens Trump further so I wouldn't rule it out.

I doubt a year is long enough by half for the GOP to wash this stink off before midterms hit. I think getting in front of it and then pretending outrage will be their reponse to trump's brand-new lame duck administration.

This is juicy stuff, hard to wash off (though no doubt attempts will be made to minimize the odor). trump's "this won't change a damn thing" fans will be moving goalposts again between now and next Friday.

Pretty doubtful they will.

Correct.

National security because he was a Russian spy?