New reporting from the Washington Post’s Early Brief highlights how two Georgia Republicans running for the U.S. Senate — MAGA extremist Rep. Mike Collins and MAGA “warrior” Rep. Buddy Carter — are “under pressure” navigating Trump’s botched handling of the Epstein files as they compete for his endorsement amid major backlash from the MAGA base.
Read for yourself:
Washington Post: Early Brief
Dan Merica and Matthew Choi | August 14, 2025
- There is a growing tension inside Republican primaries over the need for Trump’s endorsement and some grassroots Republicans’ desire to see all files around financier Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes and death released.
- An example of how this is affecting politics inside Republican circles is the Georgia Senate primary, where Reps. Buddy Carter and Mike Collins, along with others, are vying for Trump’s endorsement.
- The two congressmen have taken different approaches to Epstein.
- While Carter, whose campaign website is mostly images of him and Trump, has stood with the president’s handling of the issue […] Collins has been quiet after a long history of calling for the Epstein files to be released.
- “Release the Epstein files. Release the Las Vegas shooter files. Release the JFK files,” Collins wrote on X in February.
- He also marked the anniversary of Epstein’s indictment in July 2024 by writing that “the government continues to withhold his list of clients and visitors to his island.”
- And just days ago, Collins’s leadership PAC fundraised off the House Oversight Committee’s recent subpoenas […] but he made no mention of Trump’s handling of the issue.
- […] neither [Carter nor Collins] responded to our request for comment.