MAGA lawmaker's shock comment after attending Situation Room crisis meeting on Epstein
www.yahoo.com

... A loyal MAGA follower of President Donald Trump is raising eyebrows with comments after she attended an emergency White House Situation Room meeting on the Jeffrey Epstein files.

In an unusual move, top administration officials met with GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado in the White House Situation Room on Wednesday to discuss a House vote on the release of documents related to child sex offender Epstein, the Independent reported.

"I guess I'm pretty high profile," Boebert said.

ABC News reported that White House and Justice Department officials pressed Boebert to take her name off a House discharge position which looks to force a vote on releasing files related to Epstein, who died by suicide in jail in 2019.

The petition at the time had 217 signatures, one shy of the 218 total signatures needed for it to go into effect. Boebert is one of four Republicans who have signed on to the measure.

Following the Situation Room meeting, Boebert wrote on X, "I want to thank White House officials for meeting with me today. Together, we remain committed to ensuring transparency for the American people."

The lawmaker told CNN that Trump did not attempt to pressure her to remove her signature from the petition.

"Doesn't that show the level of transparency when we are willing to sit down with members of Congress and address their concerns?" White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

However, Leavitt added, "I'm not going to detail conversations that took place in the Situation Room."

When asked why the meeting was held in the ultra-secure Situation Room, Boebert said "it's just an easy [Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility] to get to."

However, the Situation Room is historically the venue where high-level matters of national security are coordinated, such as the deadly 2003 attack on 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden. ...

'No one has threatened me': MAGA firebrand and rape survivor Nancy Mace holds firm that Epstein files must be released
www.independent.co.uk

... Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) pushed back on allegations that President Donald Trump had attempted to pressure her against signing a discharge petition in the House of Representatives to force a vote to release files related to Jeffrey Epstein.

Mace spoke to The Independent exclusively as she headed to the House floor after a discharge petition proposed by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) reached the requisite 218 signatures Wednesday after Speaker Mike Johnson swore in Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz.).

Mace said she had not spoken to Trump since Friday.

"I've been traveling, and I had a big press conference yesterday, so he and I've been on the road, but he and I've been playing phone tag," she said.

She is one of three Republican women who joined the discharge petition alongside Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. Boebert was summoned to the White House Wednesday for what was reportedly a crisis meeting in the super-secure Situation Room to try and get her to remove her name from the petition. ...

Trump, allies reach out to Boebert, Mace ahead of Epstein discharge petition deadline
thehill.com

... Trump also called Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) on Wednesday morning, but she missed his call and had been playing phone tag with him as of early Wednesday afternoon, a source told The Hill, adding that there had not been outreach from White House staff. ...

Epstein Emails: Trump Facing Republican Rebellion Over House Vote
www.newsweek.com

... Donald Trump is bracing for a Republican rebellion after it was announced the U.S. House will vote next week on a bill compelling the release of the Justice Department's complete Jeffrey Epstein case files. President Trump has been pulled deeper into the scandal after the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released more Epstein emails on Wednesday, including a 2011 email that Trump "spent hours" at the disgraced financier's house with a victim of sex trafficking and a later message that said Trump "knew about the girls."

Trump on Wednesday accused Democrats of "trying to bring up the Jeffrey Epstein Hoax" and warned his fellow Republicans, "Only a very bad, or stupid, Republican would fall into that trap." ...

What To Know

A vote on the files' release is set to take place next week"earlier than expected"House Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday after Representative-elect Adelita Grijalva was sworn in and added the final, 218th, signature to a discharge petition that requires the vote

- - - Democrat Grijalva joins four Republican rebels who have signed the petition. They are: Representatives Thomas Massie of (KY), Nancy Mace of (SC), Lauren Boebert (CO) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA).

- - - Trump and officials in his administration have reportedly reached out to Boebert and Mace to ask them to remove their names from the petition. Massie has told reporters the House parliamentarian told him signatures cannot be removed.

- - - Massie's theory could be tested soon: Democratic Representative Mikie Sherrill plans to resign from the House next week to become New Jersey's governor. ...