Repubs -- Oversight Is Their Job. They’re Failing It.
Oversight Is Their Job. They’re Failing It.
- Wed, Feb 18 2026 at 2:52 PM
Mark –
House Republicans control the Oversight Committee.
They have subpoena power. They can compel testimony. They can demand documents. They can force the Department of Justice to explain, under oath, exactly how it handled the release of the Epstein files.
And they are not using that authority.
At the recent House Judiciary Committee hearing, Attorney General Pam Bondi turned a serious inquiry into a spectacle. Survivors sat in the room while she refused to apologize for the DOJ’s botched document release that exposed victims’ names. When asked who was responsible, she dodged. When pressed about accountability, she attacked.
Instead of pressing her, most Republican members redirected the conversation or ceded their time.
At the same time, reporting shows that members of President Trump’s own cabinet appear throughout the Epstein files. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick acknowledged traveling to Epstein’s private island years after Epstein pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Mehmet Oz have surfaced in the documents. The Justice Department’s latest release contains thousands of references to President Trump and his properties.
In corporate boardrooms and universities, ties to Epstein have led to resignations and independent reviews. Inside this White House? They are dismissed as trivial.
House Republicans see all of this. They know oversight is their constitutional responsibility.
And they are failing to exercise it.
Oversight exists for moments exactly like this. When powerful names surface in serious investigations, the answer is not deflection or delay. It is transparency.
If powerful officials are named but innocent, then sunlight clears the air.
And if they are not, they should be investigated thoroughly and held accountable without exception.
Oversight is not optional. It is not partisan. It is central to governing in a democracy.
Republicans cannot campaign on accountability and then fall silent when it becomes politically inconvenient. They cannot look away when survivors are asking for answers and the public is demanding transparency.
They have the power to act. We are demanding that they use it.
Thank you,
People For the American Way
Comments
Post a Comment