Trump's critics say attacking Iran 'won't make the Epstein files go away' - The Boston Globe

As the conflict in the Middle East stretches into its fourth day following US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran, President Trump has articulated various reasons for the military campaign that was launched over the weekend.

Trump on Monday** said the strikes are intended to dismantle Iran’s missile capabilities, wipe out its naval forces, block its path to building **a nuclear weapon, and ensure “that the Iranian regime cannot continue to arm fund and directors armies outside of their borders.”

Some of Trump’s harshest critics see a different aim behind the military action: An extremely cynical attempt to shift attention away from the renewed scrutiny over the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a Republican and an outspoken critic of Trump, described the strikes on social media as “acts of war unauthorized by Congress,” adding in a separate post that it’s a distraction from the Epstein files.

“PSA: Bombing a country on the other side of the globe won’t make the Epstein files go away, any more than the Dow going above 50,000 will,” Massie wrote on X on Sunday.

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PSA: Bombing a country on the other side of the globe won’t make the Epstein files go away, any more than the Dow going above 50,000 will.

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie)[March 1, 2026]

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Massie is co-sponsoring a House war powers resolution, a law passed in the early 1970s by lawmakers as a check on executive war authority, with Democratic Representative Ro Khanna. The powers vote in the House would restrain Trump’s authority on military operations in Iran.

During his weekend visit in New Hampshire, Khanna told WMUR that he and Massie will force a vote on Thursday.

“First of all, my heart goes out and prayers to the three service members we lost. Just devastating,” Khanna told WMUR. “But the reality is, we’re spending billions of dollars on this overseas war. That money could be coming here to New Hampshire for schools, for housing, for health care. And then we’re putting our service members at risk.”

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The move comes as many Democrats — along with Massie and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul — condemned Trump’s decision to launch the strikes without first seeking authorization from Congress. Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 — known as the “Declare War Clause” — of the US Constitution explicitly gives Congress the power to declare war, not the executive branch.

At least six US service members have been killed since the US and Israeli strikes on Iran. Trump said Sunday that “there will likely be more” casualties and indicated on Monday the military operation could continue for another four to five weeks.

Massie co-authored the Epstein Files Transparency Act with Khanna last year that compelled the Justice Department to release the Epstein files.

Massie isn’t the only Republican to draw the connection between the US strikes on Iran and the Epstein files.

In a lengthy social media post, former Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, criticized Trump’s decision to launch strikes on Iran on Saturday.

“For years we demanded to release the Epstein files, demanding transparency and justice for thousands of victims, women and children, by the richest most powerful men in the world and we had to fight Trump himself to do it, even after we all campaigned on it,” Green wrote on X.

Green added that, “not a single person has been arrested and likely won’t be, no accountability, no justice.”

“Instead, we get a war with Iran on behalf of Israel that will succeed in regime in Iran,” she continued.

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Greene, who was once a loyal ally of Trump, had a months-long rift last year with the president over his administration’s handling of the Epstein’s files, his stance on the war in Gaza, and the extending Obamacare subsidies. Greene resigned from her seat after one week Trump said he was withdrawing his support for her.

Maine Democrat Graham Platner, who is challenging Republican Senator Susan Collins, condemned Trump’s strikes in Iran, pushing a claim that the military operation is a distraction from the Epstein files.

“This war is also being pushed because Donald Trump is in the Epstein files, and other people in the White House, and other people connected with the Epstein class,” Platner told a crowd in Brewer on Sunday. “They are terrified that we have noticed what they are doing.”

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

Alyssa Vega can be reached at [email protected].