A Republican lawmaker has warned President Donald Trump that the joint US-Israeli assault on Iran 'won't make the Epstein files go away.' Kentucky GOP Representative Thomas Massie, who spearheaded the Epstein Files Transparency Act, wrote on X: 'PSA: Bombing a country on the other side of the globe won't make the Epstein files go away, any more than the Dow going above 50,000 will.'
Operation Epic Fury began on Saturday with airstrikes on Tehran, killing Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Retaliatory strikes have spread across the Middle East, with at least four US soldiers killed and three fighter jets downed in a friendly fire incident. Trump has said the mission could last four to five weeks.
The conflict has overshadowed the Epstein scandal, which saw Bill Clinton testify before the House Oversight Committee hours before the strikes. Former MAGA congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene criticised Trump for pursuing regime change abroad instead of delivering on 'America first' promises, saying: 'Not a single person has been arrested... no accountability, no justice. Instead, we get a war with Iran.'
Senator Rand Paul also opposed the strikes, quoting John Quincy Adams: 'America goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy.' He argued the Constitution delegates war powers to Congress to make war less likely. However, some Republicans like Senators Tom Cotton, Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz have defended the action.
Initial polling suggests only one in four Americans supports the administration's actions, which could pose problems for the party in November's midterms if the conflict drags on.
