By STEPHEN GROVES, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans were grasping late Thursday to formulate a response to the Trump administration’s handling of records in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case, ultimately putting forward a resolution that carries no legal weight but nodded to the growing demand for greater transparency.

The House resolution, which could potentially be voted on next week, will do practically nothing to force the Justice Department to release more records in the case. Still, it showed how backlash from the Republican base is putting pressure on the Trump administration and roiling GOP lawmakers.

The House was held up for hours Thursday from final consideration of President Donald Trump’s request for about $9 billion in government funding cuts because GOP leaders were trying to respond to demands from their own ranks that they weigh in on the Epstein files. In the late evening they settled on the resolution as an attempt to simultaneously placate calls from the far-right for greater transparency and satisfy Trump, who has called the issue a “hoax” that his supporters should forget about.

Yet the House resolution was the latest demonstration of how practically no one is moving on from Attorney General Pam Bondi’s promises to publicly release documents related to Epstein. Since he was found dead in his New York jail cell in August 2019 following his arrest on sex trafficking charges, the well-connected financier has loomed large among conservatives and conspiracy theorists who have now lashed out at Trump and Bondi for declining to release more files in the case.

Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks to the media, Friday, June 27, 2025, in the briefing room of the White House in Washington, as President Trump looks on. (AP Photo/Manuel Ceneta)

“The House Republicans are for transparency, and they’re looking for a way to say that they agree with the White House. We agree with the president. Everything he said about that, all the credible evidence should come out,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said Thursday afternoon.

Democrats vehemently decried the resolution’s lack of force. They have advanced their own legislation, with support from nine Republicans, that would require the Justice Department to release more information on the case.

Rep. Jim McGovern, who led the Democrats’ debate against the Republican resolution Thursday night, called it a “glorified press release” and “a fig leaf so they can move on from this issue.”

Under pressure from his own GOP members, Johnson had to demonstrate action on the Epstein files or risk having Republicans support the Democratic measures that would force the release of nearly all documents.

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“The American people simply need to know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said at a news conference. “Democrats didn’t put this into the public domain. The conspiracy theory provocateur-in-chief Donald Trump is the one, along with his extreme MAGA Republican associates, who put this whole thing into the public domain for years. And now they are reaping what they have sown.”

Still, Democrats, who hold minorities in both chambers, have relished the opportunity to make Republicans repeatedly block their attempts to force the Justice Department to release the documents.

Trump in recent years has suggested he would release more information about the investigation into Epstein, especially amid speculation over a supposed list of Epstein’s clients.

In February, the Justice Department released some government documents regarding the case, but there were no new revelations. After a months-long review of additional evidence, the department earlier this month released a video meant to prove that Epstein killed himself, but said no other files related to the case would be made public.

A White House spokeswoman said Thursday that Trump would not recommend a special counsel in the case. But later Thursday, the president said he had asked Bondi to seek the release of testimony from grand jury proceedings in the case.

Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, said that process would likely only produce limited information, but added that it showed that “the president is hearing the American people.”

Today is Friday, July 18, the 199th day of 2025. There are 166 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On July 18, 1976, at the Summer Olympics in Montreal, Nadia Comaneci of Romania became the first gymnast to receive a perfect score of 10 from Olympic judges for her performance on the uneven bars.

Also on this date:

In 1536, the English Parliament passed an act declaring the authority of the pope void in England.

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In 1863, during the Civil War, Union troops spearheaded by the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, made up of Black soldiers, charged Confederate-held Fort Wagner on Morris Island, S.C. The Confederates were able to repel the Northerners, who suffered heavy losses; the 54th’s commander, Col. Robert Gould Shaw, was among those who were killed.

In 1918, South African anti-apartheid leader and president Nelson Mandela was born in the village of Mvezo.

In 1925, Adolf Hitler published the first volume of his autobiographical manifesto, “Mein Kampf (My Struggle).”

In 1944, Hideki Tojo was removed as Japanese premier and war minister because of setbacks suffered by his country in World War II.

In 1947, President Harry S. Truman signed a Presidential Succession Act which placed the speaker of the House and the Senate president pro tempore next in the line of succession after the vice president.

In 1964, nearly a week of rioting erupted in New York’s Harlem neighborhood following the fatal police shooting of a Black teenager, James Powell, two days earlier.

In 1994, a bomb hidden in a van destroyed a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing 85.

In 2005, an unrepentant Eric Rudolph was sentenced in Birmingham, Alabama, to life in prison for an abortion clinic bombing that killed an off-duty police officer and maimed a nurse.

In 2013, Detroit became the biggest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy, its finances ravaged and its neighborhoods hollowed out by a long, slow decline in population and auto manufacturing.

Today’s Birthdays:

Olympic gold medal figure skater Tenley Albright is 90.
Movie director Paul Verhoeven is 87.
Singer Dion DiMucci is 86.
Actor James Brolin is 85.
Baseball Hall of Famer Joe Torre is 85.
Singer Martha Reeves is 84.
Business mogul Richard Branson is 75.
Actor Margo Martindale is 74.
Musician Ricky Skaggs is 71.
World Golf Hall of Famer Nick Faldo is 68.
Actor Elizabeth McGovern is 64.
Actor Vin Diesel is 58.
Author Elizabeth Gilbert is 56.
Retired NBA All-Star Penny Hardaway is 54.
Singer-songwriter M.I.A. is 50.
Actor Elsa Pataky (“The Fast and the Furious” films) is 49.
Movie director Jared Hess is 46.
Actor Kristen Bell is 45.
Actor Priyanka Chopra is 43.
Actor Chace Crawford is 40.
Boxer Canelo Alvarez is 35.
Olympic sprinter Noah Lyles is 28.

The proposed 427-acre redevelopment at the former Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant in Ramsey County’s Arden Hills, with the name Rice Creek Commons, is to include retail, office and light industrial projects as well as housing. There is hope the development will help grow the county’s tax base and draw thousands of new residents to the area.

For the better part of 70 years, the area was owned by the U.S. government. Small-arms munitions were manufactured and tested there during World War II as well as the Korean and Vietnam wars. The site was largely de-commissioned in the 1980s.

For more than a decade, efforts at development at the site have either failed, as with the Vikings stadium plan, or been slow to advance, as with the Rice Creek Commons vision.

Here’s a rundown of recent events connected with the development effort:

• 2011 Ramsey County and Arden Hills work with the Minnesota Vikings who consider TCAAP as a potential stadium site. The Minnesota Legislature ultimately chooses a site in Minneapolis.

• 2013: Ramsey County buys the TCAAP site and begins funding the cleanup, spending $28.5 million.

• 2014: The development is named Rice Creek Commons.

• 2016: The site receives a certificate of completion from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency signaling it’s off the state’s Superfund site list and ready for development. Alatus, LLC is chosen as developer for the site.

• 2019: Ramsey County sues Arden Hills in an effort to break the partnership they entered into in 2012. The dispute involves disagreements over housing density at the site.

2021: A Ramsey County judge declines to dissolve the contract between Ramsey County and Arden Hills, saying the matter must be resolved through the political process.

• 2022: In a municipal election voters send several candidates open to ending the impasse with Ramsey County to the Arden Hills City Council.

• 2023: Ramsey County rejects the development plan — agreed to by Alatus and Arden Hills — for the site citing a lack of housing density.

• 2024: Arden Hills and Ramsey County begin meeting again on development plans for the site and additional housing is considered. The Ramsey County Board approves sale of 40-acre Rice Creek Commons parcel to be handled by developer Ryan Cos.

• 2025: The board overseeing the development parts ways with Alatus citing slow progress on the project. Alatus files a lawsuit contesting the move.

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Despite the recent April groundbreaking on its first development project, plans for the Rice Creek Commons site in Arden Hills have reached a new roadblock.

The future of the development is unclear after members of the Joint Development Authority agreed not to extend their agreement with master developer Alatus with board members expressing concern and frustration with the developer’s pace. Alatus has been part of the project since 2016.

Afterward, Alatus filed a lawsuit alleging that the authority breached its agreement.

The lawsuit seeks to extend or continue the partnership with the JDA. It also states that the authority was “shopping around development” of a parcel with Alatus competitors in a “flagrant breach” of the agreement. It further states that the authority would have to use “groundwork” laid by Alatus in future development at the site.

RELATED: A timeline of the Rice Creek Commons/TCAAP development in Arden Hills

The lawsuit also attributed delays to having to wait on public infrastructure design from Ramsey County and its contractors. Alatus also says in the lawsuit it has incurred more than $2 million in third party development costs.

James Thomson, the attorney representing the JDA, said in an email Thursday that the board believes that it has fully complied with all of its obligations under its agreement with Alatus.

Next steps

Now, next steps are still to be determined as staff consider how the board will select developers.

The board’s decision not to extend its agreement with Alatus is disappointing, said former Arden Hills city council member Tom Fabel. Taking time to find a new developer could complicate aspects of the project, Fabel said.

“That doesn’t happen quickly, I could see that extending things out a great deal of time, which is A, unfortunate just because of loss of time,” Fabel said. “And B, it creates, well, the financial risk and the political risk that the willingness of the city to enthusiastically support a final development agreement — which includes the amount of housing that we have fought for — might be undermined in the next election if we’re not able to hold a majority on the council.”

In 2022 voters in Arden Hills elected several city council candidates who ran on breaking the impasse with Ramsey County over housing density at the project. In 2024 the city and county were meeting again and additional housing was considered for the site.

A pause

Meanwhile, the board overseeing the project will need to examine what has changed since it last looked at developer solicitation.

Both the real estate market and financing options for green technology are among the issues, said Ramsey County District 1 Commissioner Tara Jebens-Singh.

“So what we’re hoping to do at our next meeting is to really take a pause and reflect, to say, ‘What can we build off of from our current understanding of our sustainability guidelines, the past processes and all of the plans that we have?” said Jebens-Singh, a member of the Joint Development Authority. “We’re taking this time as a pause to make sure we’re taking the temperature of the time and seeing if there’s any shifts or evolutions in our processes or thinking that we need to adopt before we figure out our next step.”

In 2013 Ramsey County purchased the site — then known as the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant — and funded the cleanup, spending $28.5 million. The proposed 427-acre redevelopment is to include retail, office and light industrial projects as well as housing. There is hope the development will help grow the county’s tax base and draw thousands of new residents.

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