The Epstein files are set to be kept under wraps for even longer after Donald Trump's Republicans scrapped plans to vote on releasing the documents.
Mike Johnson, the Republican House Speaker, has stepped back from his commitment to hold a vote on the files before Congress enters its August break.
Johnson said on Monday that the administration needed "space" to address the issue - a U-turn on his position just last week, when he demanded "everything" be released.
"My belief is we need the administration to have the space to do what it is doing, and if further congressional action is necessary or appropriate, then we'll look at that," Johnson said.
He added: "But I don't think we're at that point right now because we agree with the President."
Johnson's apparent change of heart follows mounting pressure from Trump's "Maga" base over the Epstein files.
GETTY
|PICTURED: A protester holds a sign outside the White House demanding the release to all files related to Jeffrey Epstein
GETTY | Mike Johnson has stepped back from his commitment to hold a vote on the files
Outrage grew after a US Justice Department probe said Epstein had no "client list" and had taken his own life in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking allegations.
The President responded to the backlash on Thursday by instructing Pam Bondi, his Attorney General, to petition a court for the release of grand jury evidence about Epstein.
House Republicans had previously brought forward a resolution demanding the documents be made public - which was not legally binding.
Also at the centre of Trump's Epstein row is the Rupert Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal.
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GETTY | PICTURED: Jeffrey Epstein (left) and Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida in 1997
The White House has barred the paper from the media pack travelling with Trump to Scotland later this week.
The WSJ had reported that Trump allegedly penned a "bawdy" birthday message to the disgraced financier in 2003, which purportedly featured an illustration of a naked woman.
The President has dismissed the message as "fake", and maintains he had never "wrote a picture" in his entire life.
Tarini Parti, a White House correspondent for the newspaper who was not involved in the article, had been slated to shadow Trump for the final two days of his four-day tour of his Scottish golf properties at Turnberry and Aberdeen.
GETTY | The President has dismissed the alleged Epstein birthday message as 'fake'
Trump kicked off an £8billion-valued lawsuit against the newspaper last week, naming Murdoch and the two journalists responsible for the article as defendants.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, confirmed to Politico on Monday that Parti had been removed from the trip.
"As the appeals court confirmed, the Wall Street Journal or any other news outlet are not guaranteed special access to cover President Trump in the Oval Office, aboard Air Force One, and in his private workspaces," Leavitt said.
She continued: "Due to the Wall Street Journal's fake and defamatory conduct, they will not be one of the 13 outlets on board."