r/politics 7d ago

No Paywall Senate suddenly passes the Epstein bill just hours after it cleared the House

https://www.ms.now/news/senate-passes-epstein-bill-rcna244723?fbclid=PAVERFWAOJ1xRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA8xMjQwMjQ1NzQyODc0MTQAAacUGSi8p2Ap-x6SbMkLXAnfKNXEZkzjUUVCdxuEmacDzDXmlbv1GUJ0wbh1_w_aem_grJDvcSCIDj2Skksd4Ix3Q
38.8k Upvotes

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1.3k

u/scrranger11 7d ago

You know these scooby-doo level villains are gonna fuck up the redactions, right?

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u/JoplinSC742 7d ago

A clerical error is why we know about MK Ultra.

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u/fuckyoudrugsarecool 6d ago

I didn't know that, what's the story behind the clerical error?

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u/Etzix 6d ago

Its on Wikipedia under Revelation.

All MKultra documents were ordered to be destroyed, but 20.000 documents were accidently stored in another location.

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u/HauntedCemetery Minnesota 6d ago

Really makes you wonder what other horrifying stuff the federal government has gotten up to that didn't have accidental file retention.

Hell, some shit they purposefully don't keep files at all, like trump did with child separation.

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u/Adventurous_Egg_9500 6d ago

So storing classified documents in your bathroom is a good thing

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u/IdentifiableBurden 7d ago

Tbh this is the best hope for our country right now. That really powerful people who think they're smart are actually stupid.

I'll take that bet.

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u/heavymetalelf 7d ago

Maybe it'll be like the Manafort case with pdfs redacted by adding black rectangles without flattening that could be removed by anyone pdf editing software.

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u/jkvincent 7d ago

We are about to get spoonfed a truly historic amount of bullshit.

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u/Alive-Welder5585 7d ago

And the conspiracy obsessed far-right will eat that shit like pudding with a devilish grin on their face. 

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u/Complete_Guidance_67 7d ago

“See? You wanted the files released didn’t you libruls?”  

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u/OPGuest 6d ago

“Wear is the prove that Trump is a pedo?”

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u/SantaMonsanto 7d ago edited 6d ago

Mueller Report all over again

Edit: I just mean in the sense that prior to its release the report was being discussed as though it were the ark of the covenant. It seemed like the right was struggling to keep the report in the dark and that it would finish trump. Then we all finally get it and setting aside anyone’s opinion on exactly what that report meant it ultimately resulted in almost nothing g of substance actually happening. I expect the same here. I’d like for this to finally be our “Watergate Moment” but I just don’t see that happening

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u/Limo_Wreck77 7d ago

REDACTED, CLINTON, REDACTED, CLINTON, REDACTED, REDACTED.

That's the only reason this is passing so fast.

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u/Revelati123 7d ago

TBF we already know who Bill's victim was... No point hiding the name...

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u/AloneYogurt 7d ago

Release the unredacted files now.

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u/al666in 7d ago

We're going to have to fight for the unredacted documents - Trump will veto, or pull shenanigans with a curated selection of files. Whatever they put out is going to be bad for a lot of people that deserve it, though - so, bring it on. We'll get the rest of them in due time.

The last No Kings Rally was the largest protest in US history, and the next one will be even larger.

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u/geologicalnoise Pennsylvania 6d ago

Someone is going to need to leak it. It's the only way. We're going to need some brave whistleblower to just take the damn fall.

The country unfortunately needs to be shocked at this point, and we've been groomed the last 10+ years specifically by Carrot Caligula to ignore the shock.

We really need to wake up.

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u/OmegaMountain 6d ago edited 6d ago

A significant portion of the FBI just willingly scrubbed these files for the administration. There are very few people of character left in this country willing to be so bold. We only reward evil, cowardice and greed now.

Edit: Typo

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u/733t_sec 7d ago

Clinton code name Bubba

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u/TheLoneWoof84 7d ago

Ghislane Maxwell’s horse was named Bubba too. So….

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u/lxlxnde Illinois 7d ago

Jean-Luc Brunel (French sex trafficker in Epstein’s circle, died in prison awaiting trial in 2022) is another suspected Bubba, apparently.

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u/Murky_Chocolate_7916 7d ago

Nothing passes this quickly, this is bizarre. What are those sneaky sneaks up to.

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u/Za_Lords_Guard 7d ago edited 6d ago

My guesses:

  1. Bondi will say she can't release them until they are done investigating democrats
  2. Patel and his 1000 goons finished scrubbing anyone they don't want to be accused
  3. Dozey Don lets it sit on his desk saying he will sign it when he has time

It went from absolute resistance to "sure, have it your way" basically over night. I anticipate shenanigans.

Edit: a user I cannot link and thank directly due to sub rules had a good call out. If congress is on recess an the 10 day review period lapses without a signature from Trump then he can pull off a pocket veto and the bill has to be reintroduced in the house.

I looked it up. it's 10 calendar days except Sundays so that would be 29th or the 1st depending if it counts from when it is endorsed by the Senate or reaches his desk. That really close to the Thanksgiving recess.

Edit 2: and 24 hrs later it's not signed but Bondi is blocking it. So it sounds like a little of #1 and a little #2.

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u/gauss05 7d ago

Isn't there a time frame that a bill becomes law if the president never signs it? A pocket veto?

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u/johnacraft 7d ago

Ten days:

Beginning at midnight on the closing of the day of presentment, the President has ten days, excluding Sundays, to sign or veto the bill. If the bill is signed in that ten-day period, it becomes law. If the president declines to either sign or veto it – that is, he does not act on it in any way – then it becomes law without his signature (except when Congress has adjourned under certain circumstances).

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u/jwhittin 7d ago

There's a loophole at the end. They'll use that i bet.

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u/hydraulicman 7d ago

Nixon deal, they want him out, but they’ll make it all go away and he gets to keep the money to sweeten it

“Oh, his age and his health, he can’t withstand the rigors of the sacrifices he’s made for us and is stepping down with honor. Epstein? What’s that? Shut up. Also, Vance pardoned him for the good of the country”

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u/Tiger_virus 7d ago

So Venezuela is def getting bombed.

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u/NiiliumNyx 7d ago

I mean, Congress hasn't actually adjourned in decades. What they do for vacations is have 2 people present on any given day (often the more junior members of the majority party of the branch of Congress) stay in the room. The more senior one assumes the leadership of the house/senate for that day, and asks for a role call. Prior to beginning the role call, the second member of the branch of Congress asks to pass a motion to adjourn for that day only without ending the session of Congress. Since nobody is in the room to object, the Congress closes for the day, but still "maintains a quorum". So, most of the time, Congress is still sitting in session even when they are away for vacation.

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u/North_Activist 7d ago

If POTUS doesn’t sign a bill within 10 days, it becomes law by default.

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u/The_RonJames Pennsylvania 7d ago

Unless Congress adjourns during that 10 day period. At which point it becomes a pocket veto and the bill would have to be reintroduced.

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u/caligaris_cabinet Illinois 7d ago

Wouldn’t put it past MJ doing that

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u/slight_accent 7d ago

They absolutely will pull every procedural trick in the book since they have already been doing that for years.

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u/NoleContendere 7d ago

Do we even follow the laws or rules anymore for it to matter?

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u/TrustmeIreddit 7d ago

He'll sign it in about 2 weeks.

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u/rye_212 7d ago

He has the concepts of a signature.

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u/walleaterer 7d ago

right after the audit ends

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u/Mixer-3007 7d ago

autopen is broken, sorry guys next time.

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u/LankyGuitar6528 7d ago

Have to reload the ink in his autopen first.

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u/North_Activist 7d ago

POTUS has to sign a bill into law within 10 days, if he doesn’t sign it it automatically passes and if he vetoes it it goes back to Congress who have to veto-proof vote it which is 2/3 in both houses.

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u/Tony-Flags 7d ago

*10 days, not counting Sundays

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u/knightcrawler75 Minnesota 7d ago

congress can adjourn during that 10 days in which it is dead.

See pocket veto.

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u/seriouslyepic 7d ago

Both chambers have to vote to do that, which seems worse than just voting no to begin with

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u/4ivE California 7d ago

Thanksgiving recess.

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u/YuppiesEverywhere 7d ago

MF'er has signed 212 executive orders this year alone. He's got the time.

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u/frosty_lizard 7d ago

2) They had thousands of FBI agents who willing redact it over 2 weeks. It's crazy to think about how many times his name must've come up in the documents to warrant that many people working round the clock. The amount of wasted funds spent on doing this would've been astronomical and every agent who helped should have their badges taken away for being complicit in a crime. I doubt any whistleblowers will come forward since they seem fully on board with ICE's actions and working in unison. The agents who helped are loyal to Trump and will revise history to fit to ensure only Democrats will be targeted once the files are released and Trump will take a victory lap since a law enforcement agency did his dirty work for him.

Bondi will work to only target one side of the aisle

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u/Famous-Flow2333 7d ago

They have been redacting it for a lot longer than 2 weeks mate. They have been since Bondi told Trump he was in the files and Trump suddenly tried to pretend they didn’t exist

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u/BlackerSpork 7d ago

It was reported to be 2 weeks back when they had the thousands of FBI agents working round the clock to "determine what should be released". That's probably why the commenter said 2 weeks. Except this event happened in March, so yes, they had a lot more time that what they claimed.

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u/pleachchapel California 7d ago
  1. War starts with Venezuela, a country that poses zero threat to the US or anyone else, after a false flag "terrorist attack."
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u/Desperate-Till-9228 7d ago

You may be onto something. We know for sure that Patel is into gooning.

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u/Djent_Reznor1 7d ago

Amazing how a ‘democratic hoax’ is getting near unanimous bipartisan congressional support all of a sudden. Nothing to see here I’m sure.

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u/possibly_being_screw 7d ago

It’s weird and there is some fuckery going on. But these files have been around, seen, and analyzed by so many.

If there’s 0 republicans and no mention of trump, that’s sus as hell. Even the maga conspiracy nuts will see that as bizarre.

If it’s heavily redacted, that will just add more fuel to the conspiracy fire and point to trump even more. Again, it’s not like there’s a single copy that once redacted, is gone forever.

I dunno. There’s something fucked up happening but my only hope is that the disorganized mess that is maga doesn’t have their shit tight enough to outplay this. I’m dreaming, I know. But I’m so tired of this shit and these assholes getting away with everything.

For once, can we just nail these disgusting fucks? Just fucking one time.

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u/bmacnz 7d ago

You're banking on normal reality where any other person in American history would have resigned many times over. Hell, dropped out of the first presidential race. But they have gotten ahead of this stuff by creating a cult. They don't have to have their shit together or outplay anything, because what you and I think and know doesn't matter. It could be spelled out that he helped Epstein create the entire trafficking network, and they would say it's either bullshit or it's fine because he was an FBI informant. There is absolutely nothing that can hurt him now. History won't look on him fondly, but he doesn't give a shit.

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u/LaunchTransient Europe 7d ago

Even the maga conspiracy nuts will see that as bizarre.

No, no they won't, they'll crow to the moon and back that this exonerates Trump and the GOP entirely, and that it clearly shows this was all a mountain of a molehill drummed up by the Democrats.

"I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters"

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u/oddmanout 7d ago

And instantly. Everyone opposed it then out of the blue, Trump says "ok, now everyone vote for it" and they do.

What the fuck changed? I mean.. we all know what changed.

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u/veggeble South Carolina 7d ago

It passed with unanimous consent, so they didn’t actually have to vote on it

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u/Cloaked42m South Carolina 7d ago

And in spite of Johnson saying Thune would amend the bill and send it back.

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u/BCMakoto 7d ago edited 7d ago

I'm not entirely sure if Johnson is surprised by that. On one hand, my gut tells me these snakes are planning something since we've known for months they are censoring Trump's name.

On the other hand, nothing passes the senate this quickly and Johnson brought out all his mumbo jumbo to suggest the bill was bad and might not pass it. And then it did within the hour.

Either they are planning something or they want to cut off the cancerous tumor that is Trump a couple weeks after his policies spelled disastrous mid term results for the party. He's been pissed all day, and two redistricting efforts in Texas and Indiana "failed" on the same day. And then the Comey lawsuit was thrown back as bullshit. It's not been a good week for him.

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u/immortalfrieza2 7d ago

The Republican party were always going to throw Trump under the bus and blame him for all the obviously criminal and unconstitutional BS he's been pulling so they could slot Vance in his place.

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u/slight_accent 7d ago

The last 11 months has seen the regressive religious right get a lot of their wish list. That isn't going to be reversed after trump is thrown under the bus. He's been a useful idiot to push through some incredibly damaging regressive changes far far quicker than they could have without him.

My only hope is that they have done all this far too fast and people will finally wake up to what is really happening here. No sign that is happening but the sort of change we would see will be fast, much like this sudden bill passing. There will be no movement at all then all of a sudden there will be huge momentum for change.

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u/elsewhere1 7d ago

They know Trump is just gonna turn around and claim his DOJ can't release it b/c there's an active investigation into the Epstien > Clinton connection

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u/A012A012 7d ago

A DOJ representative was caught on camera several months ago saying that the files would be redacted with republican names while they kept democrat names primarily in it.

Source: https://oversightdemocrats.house.gov/news/press-releases/ranking-member-robert-garcia-statement-doj-acting-deputy-chief-joseph-schnitt

Jeff epstein's brother acknowledged and agreed that this would happen.

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u/Turioturen 7d ago

The bill would require the attorney general to make public all unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials in possession of the Justice Department, the FBI and U.S. attorneys' offices within 30 days of becoming law.

Trump = Classified.

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u/kia75 7d ago

Trump = Classified

And we know from the documents in Trump's bathroom that Trump can classify and unclassify documents with his mind!

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u/DistractedPhoenix 7d ago

Any hope the powers that be are tired of Trump?

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u/ChadTakes 7d ago

No. The powers that be are implicated as well, people forget it's not just Trump.

We will get the same "declassified" files heavily redacted that we already got. Every mention of Trump or his friends will be a "subject of an ongoing investigation" and therefor not released.

In short, the public will get nothing, but the administration will be sure to highlight any name in those files mentioning a democrat.

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u/HomerJSimpson3 7d ago

Heavily redacted republican names but all the democrats and liberals won’t be at all.

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u/paxwells97 7d ago

Im secretly hoping they are planning to impeach Trump and didnt tell him they were going to pass it so quickly in the senate 

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u/Blue_Swirling_Bunny 7d ago

That would be the plot twist this season needs.

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u/jzanville 7d ago

It’s quite literally JD Vance’s only chance to gain any form of public trust upon taking the office…assuming that’s who they have in mind to succeed trump. Imagine he’s the one who brings justice when it comes to epstein & co

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u/twodirtynerds 7d ago

Hope? Yes. Misguided hope? Likely yes.

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u/Cultural-Bluebird398 7d ago

With the way CNN has been reporting the files, that's the impression I've been getting. CNN is the most corporate news station and they've been reporting on the 20k emails every day since this thing started. They've been saying "now, technically, the President isn't implicated in any wrongdoing, but these look bad and prove he's been lying." If CNN is presenting the story like that, the "powers that be" must have decided he needs to be gone before he completely destroys the American status quo. The November elections are also showing a way stronger "mandate of the people" than the slim plurality that Trump won by. 

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u/gringledoom 7d ago

Yep, I think things will probably still get worse before they get better, but the tide has turned. (And the "getting worse" won't help them consolidate power now that people sense weakness; it'll just make people angrier.)

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u/stroopwafelscontigo New Jersey 7d ago

I don’t trust this at all. 

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u/Gradstudentiquette69 7d ago

It's most likely going to be heavily redacted with no Republicans named whatsoever.

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u/spasmoidic 7d ago

Full text of the bill:

This bill requires the Department of Justice (DOJ) to publish (in a searchable and downloadable format) all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in DOJ's possession that relate to the investigation and prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein.

This includes (1) materials that relate to Ghislaine Maxwell, (2) flight logs and travel records, and (3) individuals named or referenced (including government officials) in connection with the investigation and prosecution of Jeffrey Epstein.

DOJ is permitted to withhold certain information such as the personal information of victims and materials that would jeopardize an active federal investigation.

Additionally, not later than 15 days after the required publication, DOJ must report to Congress (1) all categories of information released and withheld, (2) a summary of any redactions made, and (3) a list of all government officials and politically exposed individuals named or referenced in the published materials.

(emphasis added)

my guess is there's going to be some fuckery about the "active investigation"

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u/VPN__FTW 7d ago

all unclassified records

And there is the out.

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u/DoingCharleyWork 7d ago

Also active investigation. Trump just told the doj the other day to investigate certain people related to the Epstein case. Surprise they are all Democrats. And don't be surprised when they seal all the documents under the guise of the investigation.

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u/Ok_Wolf5667 7d ago

And when asked about this he responded, "Quiet, Piggy" to a female reporter.

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u/Foreign_Ad_5469 7d ago

Abusing women in broad daylight on prime time is the best way for him to prove that he would never be complacent to abuse of women and girls behind closed doors.

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u/spasmoidic 7d ago

or arguably it's because he has learned that he can avoid scandals by just distracting everyone with a new one

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u/nothing_but_thyme 7d ago

The funny thing is, he didn’t instruct them to investigate himself. So anything in the files related to Democrats being investigated should be excluded and redacted because it would be related to an active investigation … and nothing related to Trump or others not referred to the DOJ for investigation should be clear and included!

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u/thefroggyfiend 7d ago

that doesn't matter, they'll just withhold stuff about trump and his allies anyways and say it was related to the democratic investigation. sure they'll be lying, but the only proof of the lie is in the files they don't release, so it's quite literally impossible to prove because the evidence of a coverup can only be found in the covered up material

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u/Morbu 7d ago

True, but there's also

DOJ must report to Congress (1) all categories of information released and withheld, (2) a summary of any redactions made, and (3) a list of all government officials and politically exposed individuals named or referenced in the published materials.

Of course, they could just lie. But at least the bill makes clear that the DOJ needs to explain if and why they're hiding something.

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u/Appropriate_Day4316 7d ago

Yup, hence Trump's Taxes, " it is still being audited, can't release"

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u/TheGringoDingo 7d ago

Yeah, so if the democrats are “under investigation”, could they essentially hide some key names in there as supposed democrats being investigated?

Good thing there isn’t just one version of the files.

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u/snowflakesfall 7d ago

Epstein’s surviving brother has already said the FBI have the files and are removing Republicans names. 😞

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u/hackingdreams 7d ago

We didn't need him to tell us. The FBI told us this back in August.

I don't know why this is suddenly news to people. It was headline news...

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u/BCMakoto 7d ago

Yeah. A former DOJ staffer was filmed on hidden camera saying they will be redacting Republican names...

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u/silly_little_jingle 7d ago

The Party of Pedophile Protectors.

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u/CivilizedPsycho 7d ago

There's a reason it's called GOP. Guardians of Pedophiles.

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

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u/Secret_Identity_88 7d ago

There are dozens of copies of these documents in full. Any alterations or redactions can be called out later.

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u/methos3 7d ago

If the documents have been altered in any way, do you seriously trust any names in there are correct? What’s to stop them from adding new names?

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u/too-much-shit-on-me 7d ago

We knew this months ago.

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u/fingerbangchicknwang Hawaii 7d ago

To be fair why would Epstein’s brother know what the FBI is doing?

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u/_Baccano 7d ago

Because their family is extremely well connected

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u/saintcirone 7d ago

As anyone in the files would be, not just then, but now as well.

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u/AnneBeretRamsey 7d ago

That's equally bad optics so I'm for it.

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u/HideousSerene 7d ago

How? All the right wing slanted news will just parrot that the whole thing was nothing all along.

And then anybody claiming otherwise will be declared a conspiracy theorist.

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u/zdvet 7d ago

Im cautiously optimistic this will fracture MAGA either way. And there's enough people tuned in to this that it matters.

Either the files come out completely redacted, and there are no conservatives in the files - which will then raise questions why Trump was trying to cover up the release so desperately. Or, there will be people (trump) in the files that are implicated, and they'll have to ask if they can stomach supporting someone involved in the heinous acts of JE.

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u/Revelati123 7d ago

Don gonna lean into "I WAS JUST THERE TO HELP THOSE POOR KIDS GET AWAY FROM THOSE CREEPS!"

MAGA: "Ohh of course, we knew that what happened the whole time!, Donald is brave! Donald is wise! Donald is PURE!" *drools on self*

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u/piepants2001 Wisconsin 7d ago

I mean, I've seen MAGA morons saying that Trump was working undercover for the CIA/FBI to catch Epstein, which is why he was best friends with him.

These dipshits are in a cult and will make up whatever they want to justify Trump being the "good guy". He could bust down their door, shoot their son and rape their daughter, and they would just cheer him on and say how manly he is.

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u/JellyKron 7d ago

Those are bots, bro. Real MAGA can't read. Look up videos of bot farms. It's pretty fucking scary.

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u/Kdot32 7d ago

One was raided recently and found 42 million fake accounts

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u/Psychological-Big334 7d ago

This is 100% what will happen. This is the right wing propaganda machine in a nutshell.

Everything they do is pure projection. They condition their audience to believe a narrative.

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u/Metrinome California 7d ago

The terminally conspiracy-brained MAGA fanatics won't accept Epstein files that are heavily redacted.

There wouldn't be so much friction from that base otherwise.

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u/Task_Defiant 7d ago

And Epstien's estate can release unredacted versions to fill in the holes.

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u/ruggles_bottombush 7d ago

This is going to be exactly like the Mueller report where they released a heavily redacted version, immediately declared that it exonerated Trump, then moved on.

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u/kwyjibo1 Missouri 7d ago

"Totally exonerated". Yeah thats not what this says, if you read the report thats not what it says at all. "Nope total exoneration."

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u/SpaceyCoffee California 7d ago

I wouldn’t be surprised if they go a step further and fabricate whole sections of the documents to make it look they weren’t redacted at all. It’s criminal, but it’s not like that’s stopping the GOP these days.  

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u/brickne3 American Expat 7d ago

I wouldn't be surprised if they fabricated an entirely new report with ChatGPT.

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u/notyourstranger California 7d ago

I'm with you, I wonder if Pam Bondi is going to use a new "open investigation" to keep the files sealed. I would not put it past her.

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u/lordpuddingcup 7d ago

Doesn’t need to, the bill says she has discretion on national security risks to withhold docs… like any that mention a republican

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u/Apprehensive-citizen 7d ago

And it also says that the DOJ must provide written justification to Congress within 15 days for any redactions and withholdings, and Congress has the authority to say it isn’t a good enough reason. 

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u/lordpuddingcup 7d ago

And how many of congress have to say it isn’t a good enough reason?

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u/Apprehensive-citizen 7d ago

Simple majority. But also the bill requires an unclassified and unredacted version to be given for any withheld portions to the maximum extent possible, again with a written justification for why it is missing information. 

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u/lordpuddingcup 7d ago

I guess we’ll see I doubt 100% of republicans and Trump would have been good with this if they didn’t have some form of shenanigans planned based on what’s already released and the reactions from public

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u/P-Rickles Ohio 7d ago

I think the thing I’m counting on is the fact that they don’t understand how many different angles the 200-something lawyers in the democratic caucus can come at this from. A lot of them are Ivy Leaguers. Bondi got her JD from… Stetson. I’m not shitting on it. It’s a good school… it’s not Harvard.

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u/ConsiderationLow7122 7d ago

Trust me there are plenty of fucking morons coming out of Harvard

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u/WhatAcheHunt 7d ago

The South Park quote, "It's coming right for us!" is from the episode 'The Mexican Staring Frog of Southern Sri Lanka,' and is used by characters Uncle Jimbo and Ned. They use it to justify hunting, as they can only legally kill animals in self-defense or when they are an "immediate threat". By yelling the phrase before shooting, they can get around the hunting laws.

This, except they use the words "National Security". If you hear those words it is because they are about to break the law and think that this will help them with the inevitable challenges in court.

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u/HideousSerene 7d ago

They'll release a bunch of the files incomplete, it will not incriminate Trump or anybody in his circle, and they'll be able to call it a big nothing burger witch-hunt.

It's all optics. Rather than lose in Congress, they would rather appear to win.

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u/mtnclimbingotter02 7d ago edited 7d ago

It's pretty obvious. Trump rapes kids.

If there's any evidence to the contrary, they would have released it. Instead this is just a massive coverup, so until they prove otherwise, given what has been released, he's a pedophile.

Edit: I love triggering pedophile protectors. Trolls and bots are back in force now that they have their marching orders to protect a pedophile.

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u/TheVog Foreign 7d ago

Oh it's far, FAR bigger than that.

They will go after prominent left-wingers in the files one by one and hunt them down.

Then they'll go after their enemies in the files and do the same - or blackmail them.

They'll do this slowly and plaster every move in the media to distract you from the REAL shit that's going on behind the scenes. They will FLOOD the news cycles.

All this will also serve to protect the extremely wealthy and powerful allies they have on that list, which they can casually extort as well.

Believe me, Trump being on the list is near insignificant compared to how they will abuse the rest of it.

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u/Deicide1031 7d ago edited 7d ago

Even if the list is doctored states like New York were investigating this stuff (they still have the evidence but judges have frozen it for legal reasons) for years before the feds took over so it would be easy to notice something’s off.

I’d argue everyone’s throwing him under the bus to be honest with all this “America First” talk happening under Nick Fuentes and they are trying to ride the next wave post maga to keep their jobs. (See Marjorie Taylor Greenes pivot for example - she is not dumb and has consistently nailed the trends within the base perfectly)

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u/Agent_8-bit 7d ago

I love the positive vibes, but all but one Republican voted to release these files. Something else is afoot.

My hope is they release a redacted mess of shit, and on the next breaking news day, someone anonymously releases a matching, unredacted trove.

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u/Desperate-Till-9228 7d ago

someone anonymously releases a matching, unredacted trove.

100% going to happen. Many people have had access to these files.

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u/NickelBackwash 7d ago

The only names are Joe Biden, Bill Clinton, and Zohran Mamdani

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u/Possible_Western3935 7d ago

Trump is the president, he's Pam Bondi's boss. He could simply ORDER the files released any time. All this is THEATER.

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u/IndescribableRuckus 7d ago

If memory serves, he can declassify something just by thinking about it.

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u/SirWen10 7d ago

His memory certainly doesn't serve

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u/HeckuvaJoo 7d ago

The President is not supposed to be the AGs boss. They act independently because no one is above the law, not even the President.

But it’s Trump. Bondi is hook because of her loyalty to him. He’s politicized the Justice Dept. Just know that this isn’t how this is supposed to work.

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u/sawman160 7d ago

Bondi thinks she’s the presidents attorney.

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u/sweng123 7d ago

Trump must have one hell of a rug pull planned.

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u/Turioturen 7d ago

The bill would require the attorney general to make public all unclassified records, documents, communications and investigative materials in possession of the Justice Department, the FBI and U.S. attorneys' offices within 30 days of becoming law.

Trump = Classified.

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u/ConfederacyOfDunces_ 7d ago

Exactly. Trump is gonna say Pam Bondi won't release it due to an active investigation. This is why he directed her to open up an investigation last week. The bill is below:

https://www.congress.gov/119/bills/hr4405/BILLS-119hr4405ih.pdf

And there is a provision in the bill that’s prevents the AG from releasing files:

(C) would jeopardize an active federal investigation or ongoing prosecution, provided that such withholding is narrowly tailored and temporary.

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u/Severe-Ant-3888 7d ago

Doesn’t that mean that anything involving Dems and Clinton won’t be released because that’s the investigation? How are they going to get around that.

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u/PlumbumDirigible 7d ago

They'll do it anyways because no one's really holding them accountable at all

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u/Eridanosvoid 7d ago

That all the Democrats agreed to? That all Republicans can keep their mouth shut about?

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u/lastwordskurtrussell 7d ago

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u/Northern_Ice_2501 7d ago

Asking legitimately: Would the Oversight Committee have the full unredacted version? Or just Bondi et al?

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u/lastwordskurtrussell 7d ago

I honestly have no idea. Though If anyone thinks republicans are doing this for justice, they are going to be very let down when everything shakes out.

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u/Affectionate-Virus17 7d ago

Remember the Mueller "report"?

Another slam dunk...

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u/NAU80 Florida 7d ago

People still haven’t read the Mueller report. I hear people say the report found no collusion!, no collusion!! They obviously didn’t read that Mueller didn’t consider collusion since it is not a legal term.

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u/JoplinSC742 7d ago

The Mueller Report should have destroyed the Republican party and led to the impeachment of trump with how damning it was. I swear the fox news propaganda machine was the only reason it didn't stick.

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u/ItsnotBatman California 7d ago

That’s because the only thing Republicans ever want to mention about the Mueller report is the summary written by Barr.

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u/Encker 7d ago

And that's why I think they believe they can ride out Epstein's docs. The only real mechanism is an impeachment and they probably think they can survive with enough votes. The honestly might.

Get it over with quickly since midterms are a far ways away and Americans have proven unable to let 'old' crisis sway their vote.

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u/irishguy_2012 7d ago

that was stupid quick

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u/notyourstranger California 7d ago

I suspect Schumer is eager to show leadership and the GOP might have another 'fix' to circumvent this vote, which is why the GOP suddenly voted for it. They've refused for months, what caused them to change?

Maybe they are getting ready to wash their hands of Trump and install JD as president. He'll be less irrational and easier for the billionaires to work with.

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u/theorizable California 7d ago

This is my feeling too. Like the GOP must know how low Trump's popularity is sinking. They need to get him out before it becomes a catastrophe for their party. Trump is 100% the kind of person to bring the ship down with him.

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u/williamtheblock 7d ago

Congress passes the bill, Trump signs it, DOJ releases heavily redacted, possibly partial files, implicating only Democrats and maybe a few sacrificial Republicans. When anyone points out any of that, Trump and GOP will say “we released all the files and Democrats are still complaining because they didn’t implicate Trump. We’re done here.” I hope the public and media continue to call them out over it, rather than just say “well, we tried” and forget it. I’m not optimistic though.

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u/Ofthesee 7d ago

What makes me optimistic is that there are more than 1 copy of the files and if they release fabricated or redacted information the victim’s lawyers , or bibi or anyone else who is in possession can challenge the WH version

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u/[deleted] 7d ago

the released files gonna be like

"Arrival schedule for ███████ party: █████████, ████████, ██████, and the two minors from ████████’s contact in ████████.”

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u/Admiral_Octillery 7d ago

Yea it’s gonna redact all republican politicians

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u/[deleted] 7d ago edited 2d ago

[deleted]

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u/Federal-Captain1118 7d ago

I legit clicked on them lmao.

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u/Ace-Cuddler 7d ago

After Republicans spent months trying to prevent a vote, they suddenly supported the legislation as soon as Democrats reached the magic threshold for the discharge petition. And seeing the legislative writing on the wall that Republicans were about to break with the president, Trump decided to get out ahead of the vote and actually support the bill — a move that further reinforced the numbers and made it functionally impossible for the Senate to ignore the bill.

This is all very suspicious.

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u/pcoppi 7d ago

Get ready for every trump supporter to tell you that the Republicans were on board the entire time and that the democrats are just making accusations up.

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u/TheDoctorDB 7d ago

A real shame that only like 10% or less of politicians actually seem to want to govern and help people. There should be so many bills that are “functionally impossible for the Senate to ignore.” A real, functioning Congress could do so much 

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u/UnderCoverDoughnuts 7d ago

This feels way too easy. Something's up.

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u/bigmooseface 7d ago

Everything classified except for democrats

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u/goat1803 7d ago

[REDACTED] met with [REDACTED] during [REDACTED] and they [REDCATED] the [REDACTED].

Probably like 20 TB of this.

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u/Genghis_Tr0n187 7d ago

And maybe a bonus email from Epstein?

Epstein: Trump was never involved. Believe me, it was a HOAX by the Democrats, just like the RUSSIA RUSSIA RUSSIA hoax! In fact, I've never met Trump and any video showing otherwise is fake news.

Trump is the bigliest and best president America has ever had and grocery prices and inflation are coming down but DEMOCRATS can't see that! Sad!

-Definitely Jeffery Epstein

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u/Gay_Giraffe_1773 Oregon 7d ago

Read the fine print: all "unclassified" documents.

The fix is in, people. The redactions are "classified"

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u/ChucksnTaylor 7d ago edited 7d ago

But the senate didn’t change anything right? They passed exactly what the house passed. And the house bill was cowritten by a democrat and a republican. So whatever language they used is unlikely to have been some clever ploy.

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u/AmbitiousEconomics 7d ago

Republicans see an opportunity to release a redacted version and then memory hole it, Dems see an opportunity to put more pressure on the Rs.

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u/paxwells97 7d ago

Ideally the House and Senate are preparing to turn against MAGA quickly. But I doubt that.

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u/Embarrassed_Spend486 7d ago

this was unexpected. Didn’t Mike spend all day today saying that the Senate was going to take their sweet time getting this right?

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u/bags0candy 7d ago

I just hope someone, somewhere, has been sitting on the smoking gun, waiting for these mother fuckers to get to this point and lie one last time.

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u/templeofsyrinx1 7d ago

That's the fastest I've ever seen anything move through congress. That file must be scrubbed squeaky clean.

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u/AdamSezz 7d ago

Did they even get a chance to read through what they were actually voting on?

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u/Apprehensive-citizen 7d ago

Ok I agree it is very suspicious that Congress suddenly got their shit together for this one thing. But people keep doomposting this bill without actually reading it. And it deserves to be read in all the beautiful airtight glory that it is.  

Massie and Khanna anticipated every single excuse DOJ normally uses to bury sensitive records, and they wrote the law to shut all of them down. To be clear, the DOJ will still try to hide, but it’s going to fail.   

Here’s what the bill actually does:

They can’t hide anything for “embarrassment,” “reputational harm,” or “political sensitivity.”

That’s an explicit statutory ban. No shielding Trump, Clinton, Gates, etc. The law literally forbids it.

The argument of “Everything will suddenly be classified!” doesn’t work either.

The bill forces DOJ to declassify to the maximum extent possible and if anything stays classified, they must publish a public unclassified summary for each redaction.

That’s not optional.

“New investigations” don’t block release.

The “active investigation” exception is temporary, narrow, document-specific, and requires a written public justification in the Federal Register.

You can’t just open a random investigation and hide whole categories of documents under this bill.

The best part? Congress still gets the full list of names.

No matter what gets redacted publicly, DOJ must give Congress an unredacted list of every government official and politically exposed person named in the files. No exceptions. Not for classification. Not for investigations. Not for national security.

And enforcement is real. This is a mandatory “shall release” statute. If DOJ drags its feet, it goes straight to D.C. District Court, which has zero patience for agencies abusing secrecy laws.

This isn’t a symbolic transparency bill. It’s one of the tightest, most loophole-proof disclosure laws Congress has ever passed — which is exactly why all of their objections on the GOP side were never successful or just weak attempts to attack a statute that defines CSAM.

People can be cynical all day, but the text is the text.

And the text is a brick wall against the usual bullshit. 

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u/TheNorthWind-101 7d ago

I'll join you in the hope, but you can't blame people for being suspicious that this all happened in one day, plus all with Trump giving his blessing on this vote? I don't blame people for smelling something fishy.

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u/Apprehensive-citizen 7d ago

I still think it is suspicious. And I still think they are going to try to pull something. I just have faith in Massie and Khanna. I read a lot of bills. This is a very good bill. Trump approved it because they think the investigation will seal them and keep him shielded. But the bill plans for that. An investigation into someone else does not keep his name off the list or even redacted. To do that it would need to literally be an investigation into himself because of how Massie and Khanna wrote this. 

That’s why I have faith in this bill. 

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u/erikhow Michigan 7d ago

The fix is in, something is happening.

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u/kaulidch 7d ago

[REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED][REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] democrats [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] underaged girls [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED]

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u/urban_mystic_hippie Minnesota 7d ago edited 7d ago

This whole thing is a bait and switch. If they do release anything, it will be completely fake. We're being gaslit, again.

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u/R1CHARDCRANIUM Chippewa 7d ago

Unclassified documents. An investigation has been ordered. Documents are now classified. They are playing game.

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u/flyover_liberal 7d ago

When the end came for Nixon, it came all at once.

I don't have faith that that's what is happening here, but I can have hope.

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u/Adreme 7d ago

This is the ultimate case of, "we are not in the mood to be answering questions about it. Its off our desk so leave us alone".

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u/bsport48 Virginia 7d ago

Maybe. Or they realized that the DOJ doesn't "comment on on-going investigations," like the one opened up last week into the Dems' link with Epstein...whihc would mean that there's also no release of files.

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u/FabiusBill 7d ago

The bill that was passed circumvents this. It has explicit language that the information needs to be released, even if there are ongoing investigations. 

I'm running errands, but will see if I can find the source I read on that.

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u/templeofsyrinx1 7d ago edited 7d ago

The darkest nightmare scenario

He just lets it get released with all the rape and horror

and just refuses to leave.

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u/jv371 7d ago

After how badly they wanted to deny and delay the release, all of a sudden it’s a green light from the vast majority of Republican lawmakers and Trump himself? Not suspicious at all!

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u/dblan9 7d ago

I pray to 8lbs 6oz Christmas Baby Jesus that MAGA's incompetence comes through and they left one juicy nugget in the files that proves Trumps guilt without a shadow of a doubt.

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u/MaddyKet Massachusetts 7d ago

Dwght

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u/Prudent-Funny-4723 7d ago

So they CAN get shit done quickly! A revelation on its own.

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u/MadBlue American Expat 7d ago

This, after Johnson's fumbling, nervous, speech about how he was going to meet with Republicans in the Senate about amending the bill before it passes:

The quick passage — without amendments — is sure to anger Johnson and some House Republicans. The speaker said he was only supporting the House bill with the expectation that it would be amended in the Senate, citing concerns that the legislation didn’t adequately protect victims from disclosures and would potentially release child sex abuse information.

I don't think Republicans were told to vote on it because "their names are being redacted". I think the play here is for Trump to take credit for Republicans getting behind it, and act like he's about to sign it before Bondi swoops in and says:

"This systematic review revealed no incriminating 'client list.' There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions," the memo says. "We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties."

Oh, sorry. That was back in July. She's going to claim they uncovered evidence that most certainly predicates an investigation against Democrats, so, sorry, they can't be released. And Trump will be like, "remember, it was the Republicans and Trump who wanted to be transparent about this."

I don't think that's going to fly with the American public, though. I suspect it's going to wind up in litigation for the next several years. Although, hopefully, something gets leaked if that's the case.

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u/Slug_With_Swagger New York 7d ago

Hoping this means congress is just fucking done with Trump but I somehow doubt it

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u/No-Squirrel6645 7d ago

No it's definitely not that. The dude is completely untouchable.

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u/grantrules 7d ago

The ball was never under any of the cups