House Rules Committee Democrats have effectively forced Republicans on the committee to block their effort to tag a release of the Epstein files onto advancing cryptocurrency legislation called the GENIUS Act.

The Democrats' attempt to sneak in an unrelated amendment to a House crypto regulations bill was not going to get past the House GOP-led Rules Committee, but it did force Republicans to look like they were covering for the Trump administration or keeping Epstein transparency from the public.

"The question with Epstein is: Whose side are you on?" Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., told Axios before the vote that was expected to fail.

"Are you on the side of the rich and powerful, or are you on the side of the people?"

Khanna vowed to introduce the unrelated amendment "again and again and again."

The amendment would have forced Attorney General Pam Bondi to publish all Epstein investigation documents on a "publicly accessible website" within 30 days.

The vote was 6-5 with six Republicans voting against the unrelated amendment, four Democrats voting in favor of tagging it in, and Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., who holds out in votes against President Donald Trump from time to time, voting with Democrats.

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, abstained.

Republicans voted against it on the grounds it was not related to the crypto legislation and defense spending, but still it gives the Democrats a talking point.

"I want to know what the hell is in these files," Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., the ranking member, said.

"This is about trust. Republicans said, 'Trust us. Vote for us and we will release these files.' Well here we are — they're backtracking."

But the chair of the Rules Committee Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., noted the vote is not reflecting the cover-up Democrats are desirous to claim.

"I think most of us believe what's appropriate will be released when it is time for the president to release it," Foxx said after the vote.

Even Norman and Roy voted against another five-page resolution tagged to the crypto bill from Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Texas, which failed 8-4, noting the political slight of hand by Democrats.

This "isn't the body to do this," Norman admitted. "It will be borne out by the legal authorities and by the public," Norman said. "We're talking about crypto, Jim. We're talking about regulations."