This week was poised to be a pivotal one in the political life of Coastal Georgia Congressman Earl L. “Buddy” Carter.
Until, that is, President Donald Trump did an about-face late Sunday and urged House Republicans to approve legislation this week that would compel the Justice Department to release the Epstein files. “We have nothing to hide,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform.
Before that, the six-term U.S. representative from St. Simons faced what appeared to be a difficult choice for someone seeking his party’s nomination to face Jon Ossoff in next year’s U.S. Senate race.
Would he vote in favor of full transparency from the Trump administration on the Epstein affair? Or would he stand with the president and vote against release of the files?
With the president’s weekend reversal, the question is moot.
When, as expected, the measure comes up for a vote on the House floor on Tuesday, Carter can press the “yea” button without fear of retribution of the kind Trump has been dishing out to Carter’s colleague in the House, Marjorie Taylor Greene.
In recent days, the president has railed against Greene as a “traitor,” a “ranting Lunatic,” “wacky,” and a “disgrace to our GREAT REPUBLICAN PARTY,” in part at least for her urging that he “lean into” the Epstein investigation.
Yet for MAGA voters casting votes in next spring’s primary, the question of how Carter would have voted prior to the president’s turnabout may not be so inconsequential. A substantial number of the GOP’s MAGA base care deeply about the Epstein files and what they contain, on moral as well as political grounds.
One of his rivals for the GOP nomination is U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, also a self-described “MAGA warrior.” Unlike Carter, Collins has for months urged disclosure, tweeting in February: “Release the Epstein files. Release the Las Vegas shooter files. Release the JFK files.”
Carter’s office did not reply to a request for comment on how he planned to vote before Trump’s U-turn. The postings on his social media accounts in the past several weeks give no indication, either.
‘Put this hoax behind us once and for all’
It is not known if Carter or Collins were among the “100 or more” House Republicans who, according to the bill’s sponsor, Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky), were poised to vote in favor of releasing the Epstein files — a potential rupture in the GOP ranks that appears to have spurred Trump’s turnabout.
Still, as previously undisclosed emails and text messages about Trump’s alleged knowledge of Epstein’s activities emerged last week, Carter stuck to familiar refrain, describing the disclosures as a distraction staged by Democrats, in this case as the federal government shutdown ended.
“The Epstein part is just them trying to deflect away from the real problem. Real problem here is that the Democrats, the Senate, Democrats, Chuck Schumer, Jon Ossoff, they voted 14 times to keep the government closed,” he told Fox News.
And in the wake of Trump’s weekend turnabout, Carter’s insistence that the Epstein controversy is a political gambit by Democrats appeared unchanged.
He told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a story published Monday that the Epstein controversy was a distraction fomented by Democrats and amounted to “games” that are “beneath Congress.”
“I trust President Trump’s plan to get quickly past this,” Carter was quoted as saying. He then invoked one of the president’s favorite monikers for the Epstein saga, adding that he would “follow [the president’s] lead so we can put this hoax behind us once and for all.”
Even if the House approves the Epstein-related legislation this week, it is by no means certain it will be enacted. The Senate would also have to pass it, and President Trump would have to sign it into law.
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