Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer forced a vote in the Senate on Wednesday to compel the release of the Epstein files. Only two Republican senators voted in favor of finding out which cronies and donors played a part in Epstein’s child sex-trafficking operation.

From The New York Times:

All but two Republican senators — Josh Hawley of Missouri and Rand Paul of Kentucky — blocked consideration of Mr. Schumer’s measure, which would have required the Justice Department to fully and quickly release its material related to Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender who died by suicide in federal prison in 2019.

Though it failed, Mr. Schumer’s proposal brought the contentious debate over the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files, which has roiled the House, to the chamber that has largely avoided it.

…

Mr. Schumer proposed his Epstein measure as an amendment to an annual defense policy bill and then, using a maneuver available to him as the minority leader, teed up a procedural vote.

“If Republicans vote no, you’ll be saying to the American people that they should not see the Epstein files,” Mr. Schumer said on the Senate floor on Wednesday. “I ask my Republican colleagues: After all those years you spent calling for accountability, for transparency, for getting to the bottom of these awful crimes, why won’t you vote yes?”

We all know why they voted against it.

This week’s release of Donald Trump’s obscene birthday card to his (presumably) favorite pedophile would have motivated any senator willing to put country and decency over power, especially those claiming to be devout Christians. But, with the exceptions of Sens. Paul and Hawley, not this batch of Republican senators.

Sen. Susan Collins came up with an excuse. According to The Times, she said she voted against the bill because “It does not belong on the Department of Defense policy bill.”

But I’m sure she remains very concerned about Epstein’s sex-trafficking.