It's Saturday, July 26th, Donald Trump is spending the weekend in Scotland.

Mike Johnson has dismissed the House of Representatives early for its annual month-long August recess, even though it's still July.

But even though they've left Washington, Republicans cannot escape

the political firestorm sparked by the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files.

Last night, NBC News learned that the Justice Department granted limited immunity to Galane Maxwell,

Jeffrey Epstein's close longtime associate, and a convicted sex trafficker.

Over the past two days, Maxwell sat down for a total of nine hours

for an interview with Todd Blanche, Trump's former personal defense attorney who's been elevated

to Deputy Attorney General of the United States. The Justice Department granted Maxwell

limited immunity so that she could answer questions about the Epstein case, but the meetings

between Maxwell and Blanche took place under highly unusual

circumstances. It's unclear what the Trump administration's goal is in speaking to Epstein's co-conspirator

who's already been tried and convicted. It's also worth noting that she was previously charged with

two counts of perjury for allegedly making false statements in a deposition. Prosecutors ultimately declined to move forward on those charges after they secured the

conviction of Maxwell, but it was just a few weeks ago that this Justice Department

released an unsigned memo that sought to close the Epstein case for good, saying essentially

there was nothing left to see. Both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times reported this week that all the way back in May,

Attorney General Pam Bondi notified the president that his name appears in the Epstein files.

Yesterday, Trump again denied that such a briefing ever happened.

Mr. President, would you on your name appearing in the Fancy files ever?

No, I was never, never breathed on.

Now, being mentioned in the files is not necessarily a sign of wrongdoing, and many other

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