Have the Epstein files 'ripped MAGA apart'? Maybe not, but there will be fallout

On the morning of the Epstein files vote, Washington woke to a zero-degree morning.

Marjorie Taylor Greene could see the symbolism.

"I woke up this morning and I turned to my weather app," the Republican congresswoman said at the US Capitol, "and my first thought was: hell has froze over".

By the end of the wintry day in DC, there were even more reasons to believe that hell could indeed be caked in ice.

The bill to release the Epstein files, which survivors had championed in vain for so long, had won almost unanimous support in the US House of Representatives.

It was a remarkable result after months of stasis. Less than a week ago, almost half of House members were still refusing to back moves to bring the bill to a vote.

The Republican leader of the House, Mike Johnson, had spent months disparaging the bill – but even he voted for it in the end, albeit with "deep concerns".

Later in the day, another surprise was delivered in the Senate, where it was not even clear the bill would go to a vote.

Democratic leader Chuck Schumer stood up and asked for senators to give the bill "unanimous consent". 

This was the chance for any doubters to insist on a debate, or even the usual process to consider amendments. 

But none of Schumer's 99 colleagues dared to speak up. That meant the bill would be waved through as soon as the paperwork reached the chamber. 

In Trump's America, it's remarkable to see an almost-unanimous vote in Congress for a measure that the president had so actively resisted for so long.

But it seems most members felt blocking the Epstein files — or even debating their release — was more politically dangerous than defying a notoriously grudge-bearing Trump.

The president had seen the writing on the wall a couple of days earlier.

He staged a complete turnaround on Sunday and said Republicans should support the bill, but later said in the Oval Office: "Don't talk about it too much."

His U-turn on the legislation means he can say he hasn't suffered a defeat at the hands of his party.

But for a change, it's the president who has bent to the will of Congress, rather than the other way around.

'Traitor' behaviour

There were other reasons to think hell had frozen over when Greene spoke outside the Capitol.

For years, she'd been a star of the MAGA movement and one of Trump's most devoted followers. 

But lately, she'd bemoaned his loyalty to Israel and sided with Democrats over the government shutdown.

Her support for the Epstein vote was apparently a bridge too far for the president.

"He called me a traitor for standing with these women and refusing to take my name off the discharge petition," Greene said, flanked by Epstein survivors.

She then turned the charge back on him. 

"Let me tell you what a traitor is," she said.

"A traitor is an American that serves foreign countries and themselves. A patriot is an American that serves the United States of America and Americans like the women standing behind me."

Greene said the fight over the Epstein files had "ripped MAGA apart". 

It has certainly caused some rifts and prompted some Trump supporters to sour on him. But it would be an exaggeration to say it's destroyed the movement.

Trump has made an example of Greene, ridiculing her on social media in his trademark fashion and teasing the idea of finding another Republican to replace her.

But the other conservative women who were part of Greene's crusade appear to have been spared the same wrath. 

And in the end, the Republican vote was almost completely united.

Trump predicts unhappiness

The politics now will be largely shaped by what's in these Epstein files — and what is actually released.

The bill says the Department of Justice must publish all unclassified documents relating to its investigation and prosecution of Epstein, as well as material related to his jailed co-offender Ghislaine Maxwell.

That includes "individuals named or referenced (including government officials)". And nothing can be held back for reasons of "embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity".

But in the end, the Department of Justice — led by Trump loyalist Pam Bondi — will be in control of what is released and how. And it will be asking the public to trust it has followed the law to the letter.

Earlier this week, Trump was already predicting people won't be happy. 

"We've already given, I believe the number is, 50,000 pages," he said, and went on to draw comparisons with the previous release of documents about political assassinations.

"Unfortunately, like with the [John F] Kennedy situation, with the Martin Luther King situation — not to put Jeffrey Epstein in the same category, but no matter what we give, it's never enough."

Defying odds

Some of the bill's backers fear Trump's request for new investigations into Democrats' links with Epstein could become a barrier too. 

The bill allows the department to withhold documents relating to ongoing investigations.

"The real test will be, will the Department of Justice release the files?" Greene said. 

"Or will it all remain tied up in investigations?"

If the files are released to Greene's satisfaction, it's reasonably likely she and Trump will reconcile. 

Greene has publicly apologised for her past participation in "toxic" politics — another hell-has-frozen-over moment for many Washington watchers. But there are powerful political forces that could push her back into old practices, and strong incentives to get back on Trump's good side.

And the president's inner circles are full of people who have crossed him before.

After all, even Elon Musk — who inflamed the Trump-Epstein rumours with a "big bomb" tweet in June — was among the White House dinner guests on the night of the vote.

It looks like hell just keeps getting colder.

Getting to this point with the Epstein files has taken an unlikely series of events.

So some more long-shot odds could soon be overcome, and the files could finally be released.