The truth has come out for DemocRATs -- WASHINGTON—Democrats in Congress led the charge to release the Jeffrey Epstein files. Now, prominent party power brokers and allies are paying a price, losing their jobs and seeing their reputations tarnished as a result of information in the documents. The intense scrutiny on longstanding members of the party was on display this week as the GOP-led House Oversight Committee forced Bill and Hillary Clinton to answer questions under oath about the disgraced sex offender in the former president and secretary of state’s suburban New York City hometown. Both Clintons denied any wrongdoing, with Hillary Clinton saying she had no interactions with Epstein and Bill Clinton telling lawmakers “I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong.” In the past week, institutions have been quick to cut ties with several former Democratic officials because of their interactions with Epstein. Larry Summers, who was Bill Clinton’s Treasury secretary and a top economic adviser in former President Barack Obama’s administration, resigned from his teaching and leadership positions at Harvard University, where he served as president, after the files surfaced embarrassing details of his interactions with Epstein. Summers called the decision “difficult” and expressed his gratitude to his students and colleagues Former Sen. Bob Kerrey, (D., Neb.), who challenged Clinton for the 1992 Democratic presidential nomination, stepped down from the board of a Nebraska clean energy startup after correspondence with Epstein showed up in the documents. Kerrey told CNN he didn’t want to hurt the startup’s ability to be successful. And in Maine, the state House removed a portrait of former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell on Friday after the retired Democratic lawmaker’s name appeared hundreds of times in the documents. In Europe, Queen’s University Belfast removed a bust of Mitchell on its campus earlier in the month honoring his work in the Northern Ireland peace agreement. A Mitchell spokesman, Andrew Bourke, said the former senator “regrets his association with Jeffrey Epstein and condemns, without reservation, the horrific harm Epstein inflicted on so many women.” Being mentioned in the files isn’t an indication of wrongdoing. The fallout from the Epstein files followed the resignation in February of Goldman Sachs general counsel Kathryn Ruemmler, a White House counsel to Obama, and top Democratic fundraiser Brad Karp, who stepped down as chairman of high-powered law firm Paul Weiss. Ruemmler has said she regretted ever knowing Epstein and had no knowledge of unlawful activity. Karp said the recent reports had created a distraction not in the best interest of the firm. --https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/epstein-files-democrats-a9875690
