Raw Story: “Releasing the Epstein files has become a fractious point for the GOP.”
Georgia’s already “splintered” GOP U.S. Senate primary continues to become even messier after damning new audio reported by the Washington Examiner revealed that MAGA extremist Rep. Mike Collins believes Trump is “in” the Epstein files and wants them “made public.”
Collins’ hot mic misstep has resulted in multiple headlines and comes as the Epstein files cause “a fractious point for the GOP” that has put Georgia GOP U.S. Senate candidates under “a lot of pressure” with Collins and “MAGA warrior” Rep. Buddy Carter taking different approaches to talking about the files — worsening a messy, chaotic primary that has become “a proxy fight over the GOP’s future.”
Read the coverage for yourself:
Washington Examiner: Republican Mike Collins caught on hot mic saying Trump is ‘in’ the Epstein files
By Samantha-Jo Roth | August 26, 2025
KEY POINTS:
- Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) said he believes President Donald Trump is mentioned in the Epstein files and wants the case files of the convicted sex offender made public.
- The Georgia Senate candidate was pressed by an attendee at an Aug. 13 Muscogee County GOP meeting on whether Trump was in the files.
- Collins replied that he believed the president was “in there,” but only because Trump “was the one that was telling the FBI about it,” and had previously barred Jeffrey Epstein from Mar-a-Lago, according to an audio recording of the exchange posted to YouTube.
- The second-term congressman and trucking executive said he supports making the records public. “We need to release it. I have no problem releasing it,” he said, cautioning that legal complications involving judges and grand jury material have slowed the process.
- The episode highlights growing tensions within the GOP over transparency around Epstein-related documents, which Trump has resisted despite earlier promises.
- That clash has spilled into Georgia’s Republican Senate primary, where Collins, Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA), and former University of Tennessee football coach Derek Dooley are competing for Trump’s endorsement […]
- Carter has sided with the president. In a WJCL interview last month, he said, “I support the president, and I trust the president […]”
- [Dooley] has so far avoided the topic, highlighting how the Epstein files are landing unevenly across the GOP primary field.
- In February, [Collins] tweeted: “Release the Epstein files. Release the Las Vegas shooter files. Release the JFK files.”
- He also marked the anniversary of Epstein’s 2019 indictment in July 2024 by writing that “the government continues to withhold his list of clients and visitors to his island.”
- Just weeks ago, Collins’s leadership PAC fundraised off the House Oversight Committee’s subpoenas by telling donors: “This is bigger than Russiagate. Congress is finally investigating the EPSTEIN FILES.”
The Daily Beast: Hot Mic Catches Republican Saying Trump Is in the Epstein Files
By Isabel Van Brugen | August 27, 2025
KEY POINTS:
- MAGA lawmaker Mike Collins lobbed a political grenade into efforts from Team Trump to limit his exposure to fallout from the Epstein files.
- Georgia Rep. Collins made a bombshell admission, that he believes Donald Trump’s name will be in the files, at a county GOP meeting, the Washington Examiner reported.
- A constituent asked the MAGA lawmaker whether he believed Trump was in the files related to Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender who died by suicide while in federal custody in New York City in August 2019 as he awaited trial on new sex trafficking charges.
- “Yeah, I’m sure he’s in there,” Collins said, without providing evidence, according to an audio clip of the exchange uploaded to YouTube, titled, “HOT MIC: Republican caught saying Trump IS IN THE EPSTEIN FILES!”
- “So, what’s going to happen? Are you going to vote to release them?” the constituent asked.
- “Oh, we need to release them. I have no problem releasing it, but you’ve got to go through the judicial,” Collins responded.
Raw Story: Republican caught on hot mic saying Trump is in Epstein files: ‘No problem releasing it’
By Robert Davis | August 27, 2025
KEY POINTS:
- A Republican lawmaker was caught on a hot mic saying he knows President Donald Trump is in the Jeffrey Epstein files, according to a new report.
- The Washington Examiner reported on Tuesday that Rep. Mike Collins (R-GA) said he believes Trump is “in there” during an Aug. 13 Muscogee County GOP meeting.
- The report comes at a time when the Trump administration is still trying to distance itself from the Epstein files story.
- Collins also said that he supported releasing the files.
- “We need to release it. I have no problem releasing it,” Collins said.
- Releasing the Epstein files has become a fractious point for the GOP. Some of Trump’s MAGA base continue to demand that the president release the files in their entirety.