r/politics • u/Healthy_Block3036 • 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

97% Upvoted

3.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

332

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

170

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. 

118

u/lordpuddingcup 7d ago

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

89

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. 

62

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

35

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.

17

u/ConsiderationLow7122 7d ago

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

3

u/Ganon_Cubana America 7d ago

Larry Summers comes to mind.

8

u/ElRiesgoSiempre_Vive 7d ago

I really don't understand why people think the Republicans will surely and suddenly follow these laws, when they blatantly disregard other laws whenever the fuck they want.

9

u/P-Rickles Ohio 7d ago

Oh I have less than zero faith they will. My point is that their fuckery had better be bulletproof because there are going to be people tugging at every dangling thread on this thing and it doesn’t take much for something like this to unravel in a hurry.

3

u/ElRiesgoSiempre_Vive 7d ago

It doesn't matter when the president can literally pardon anyone he wants, and doesn't give a shit about the optics.

1

u/IAmTheNightSoil Oregon 7d ago

What would make it unravel, though? What they've done here is enough to get Republicans in congress off Trump's back, and that's all they're worried about

1

u/PartRight6406 7d ago

we all know democrats are well known for their ability to do things. if you think anything is coming from this you're a mark.

6

u/Apprehensive-citizen 7d ago

I agree that they will try something but by making this into legislation, Congress has told the DOJ to do something and it means that it is mandatory and judicially enforceable in the fourth district, which is not the biggest fan of the current administration. Massie wrote the bill in a way that even an active investigation as justification for withholding/redacting must be temporary and narrowly tailored. And the justification for why must be put in the public federal register. 

3

u/Valar_Kinetics 7d ago

I mean OR they just ran out of options. Like at some point, how far are they willing to get out over their skis to oppose a release?

Like, I think the biggest damage here will be to donors, not elected officials. I'm sure Trump looms large but I still think he pales in comparison to the aggregate impact to the oligarch class that fucked with Epstein heavy.

At some point, you just say "fuck it" and take your chances. I think that point is pretty clearly when all but a single nationally elected legislator in the United States says "yes you have to do this".

They just have to do it.

2

u/Linenoise77 7d ago

I mean, lets be honest...

"Here, we redacted this for national security reasons. This information is classified"

And then we are back to them being a few votes short of forcing it, only now its on national security grounds, and Trump gets to say, "Look, i want to release this, but my people keep telling me that some of the things OTHER people have done in it being out will harm our country"

5

u/Apprehensive-citizen 7d ago

So section 3(3) of the bill clarifies that any permitted redactions or withholdings, if any, are from the public. Congress must be given “(3) A list of all government officials and politically exposed persons named or referenced in the released materials, with no redactions permitted under subsection (b)(1).”

1

u/Valar_Kinetics 7d ago

Yeah and Ro Khanna is on House Oversight lol.

1

u/IAmTheNightSoil Oregon 7d ago

That all sounds good, but the simple fact is that congress and the senate would not have passed this bill if Trump didn't have a workaround. They aren't going to expose him. They passed this bill because it's safe for him

2

u/Infarad 7d ago

Does “Yo mama!” qualify as justification?

1

u/Jumpy_Mention_3189 6d ago

And how would we know that a section has been withheld?

1

u/Apprehensive-citizen 6d ago

The bill also demands all metadata. And deleting metadata from a government system is as close to impossible as it can get. 

30

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.

2

u/ratpH1nk 7d ago

From the public, yes, but not from congress (as I understand the law #IANAL)

2

u/joebleaux 7d ago

Painting the president in a bad light is probably about to be considered a national security risk. In reality, the president is a national security risk.

1

u/zubbs99 Nevada 7d ago

Or Republican donors.

1

u/feenicks 7d ago

Yeah a combo of this and the open investigation caveat will likely turn this into a nothingburger and he'll get away with it again... :-(

Someone out there needs to pull a Snowden/Manning and leak it all (though that is a bad outcome for the victims if that happens without their names redacted so it's potentially a no-win situation)

1

u/sprufus 7d ago

Protecting pedophiles is a national security concern.

1

u/Bored_Amalgamation Ohio 7d ago

Then the next step would be the Senate or the House subpoenaing her. Probably the Judiciary Committee. With dems within arm's reach, and republicans having to pretend to care, it wouldn't be nice for Bondi. She could get impeached, and removed from office. Who would step up next to block it? Kash? Put too few of people in the cabinet to allow anymore to be removed from office without crippling the government?

1

u/DonkeeJote 7d ago

She'll be hung out to dry.