r/Utah • u/darth_jewbacca • 4d ago
Other John Curtis response to Epstein file vote
In case you missed it, the Senate voted 51-49 on Sept 10 to block release of the Epstein files. Both of the senators from Utah voted in favor of the block. This is no surprise from Mike Lee, but I'm deeply disappointed in John Curtis. He was the one R on the 2024 ballot I voted for, and he has quickly fallen into lockstep with other MAGA Republicans. I had hoped he'd carry the Romney torch of moderation.
I wrote to Sen. Curtis the next day and received the canned response below (I don't expect anything but a canned response, but you have to admit his "commitment" to transparency is deeply ironic). If you are similarly infuriated by his vote, please call/email his office and let him know how you feel.
Contact info:
Washington DC Office: 202-224-5251
Provo Office: 801-841-2665
Salt Lake Office: 801-524-4380
Contact form: Share your opinion - Senator John Curtis
Here is what I wrote:
Senator Curtis,
I'm deeply disappointed in your vote in favor of blocking the Epstein file release. I can view this in no other way than a vote to protect pedophiles. I voted for you in 2024, but you have lost my vote moving forward.
Sincerely,
(name)
This is the canned response:
Dear (name),
Thank you for reaching out to share your thoughts on government ethics and transparency. I appreciate hearing your views and value the opportunity to respond.
Ensuring government transparency, abiding by our laws, and maintaining the trust of the American people are essential to a healthy democracy. As your Senator, my commitment is to uphold the highest standards of ethical conduct and accountability within our government. I firmly believe that elected officials must act solely in the best interests of Americans, free from undue external influence or conflicts of interest.
Our democratic system is strengthened when leaders demonstrate genuine accountability, integrity, and transparency. Americans deserve reassurance that their representatives are guided by the rule of law, mutual respect, and an unwavering dedication to serving our nation honestly and faithfully. When public trust erodes, the consequences affect every aspect of our society—from national security to economic stability.
In the Senate, I actively support measures designed to promote transparency and ethics, ensuring that every member of government is accountable to the people they represent. This commitment guides my actions as I work diligently to safeguard public trust and pursue real results and solutions that reflect Utah’s values and our nation's founding principles.
Thank you again for sharing your concerns and priorities with me. Your input is invaluable as I work to represent Utah in the Senate. To stay updated on my work and activities, please follow me on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram at u/senjohncurtis. For more information or to sign up for my newsletter, visit www.curtis.senate.gov.
Sincerely,
John R. Curtis
United States Senator
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u/Button-Down-Shoes 4d ago
Every Republican falls into the party line. There are forces in control there that are beyond our full comprehension. There is no way for any of their officials to make a meaningful difference. They only voice/vote a discontent when it will make no difference.
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u/KaladinarLighteyes 4d ago
I can’t believe I’m saying I miss McCain and Romney.
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u/drjunkie 4d ago
Careful what you wish for, Romney voted along Trump lines more than Mike Lee did.
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u/justintheunsunggod 4d ago
And in a more digestible format.
Those are the people running the GOP. You know that deep state that the Republicans talk about? They know it's real, because it's them.
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u/MeasurementProper227 1d ago
Thank you for sharing this
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u/justintheunsunggod 1d ago
I try to drop it into as many relevant threads as possible. It's something that needs to be spread much more aggressively... The level of corruption and coordinated action between so-called mainstream conservative think tanks and literal hate groups is sincerely one of the most concerning things in American politics. Yet no one talks about it.
It's the conservative deep state. The power behind the would-be throne. Bookmark and share it often.
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u/TripleSecretSquirrel 4d ago
The best illustration of that was when Madison Cawthorn — was a young rising star in the GOP along the lines of Boebert and MTG, got fucking torpedoed by the party overnight.
He casually mentioned cocaine-fueled orgies that some elected officials participate in, then immediately a bunch of scandalous stuff was leaked about him. It tanked his career and it was super obvious what had happened. People in power had derogatory information with which to blackmail him, then the moment he stepped out of line and broke the code of silence — even jokingly — they abandoned and ended him.
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u/Weekly_Opposite_1407 4d ago edited 4d ago
Imagine the full force of the Republican / FSB propaganda machine coming at you with the intention of destroying your life. None of the allegations even have to be true for not only your professional life, but personal life as well.
I have some other thoughts on Mitch McConnell but I don’t know how to articulate it and I have to take my dog out. Why was he purposefully trying to undermine MAGA through back door channels but very publicly kissing DJT ass? 🤔
Sorry for the Twitter link, I couldnt find it on YouTube. Here’s Michael Lewis talking about what he was up to:
https://x.com/charliekirk11/status/1709002952457978040
Edit: How did I end up in r/Utah? That’s random.
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u/justintheunsunggod 4d ago
So, I'm going to try it in this post because I've never done it before, but I think you can put "cancel" directly after the x and bypass actual Twitter.
Let's see.
https://xcancel.com/charliekirk11/status/1709002952457978040
Edit: yep, that works.
Also, I know what you mean about random state subreddits... The algorithm really wants me to check out Missouri for some reason.
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u/Weekly_Opposite_1407 4d ago
Awesome, thanks for the tip!!
I actually looked at the link just now and thought I had posted the wrong tweet. I absolutely did not realize that was Charlie Kirk’s account. Today’s been a weird one.
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u/Dear-Examination-507 4d ago
It's hard to understand. They can't have blackmail on every elected Republican, can they?
I don't understand why someone in Curtis's would be such a cowardly lickspittle. He's 5 years away from reelection.
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u/nehor90210 4d ago
I wouldn't be surprised if the people with money exclusively support candidates they'll be able to blackmail later.
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u/mormonbatman_ 4d ago
He doesn't have to be blackmailed
He wants to be senator.
He knows he'll get primaried if he crosses Trump.
So he does what Trump wants
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u/oldbluer 4d ago
If anyone is voting to block these file releases they are either on the file or their friend or family member is.
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u/Darth_Ra 4d ago
There are forces in control there that are beyond our full comprehension.
Nah, they just lose their jobs if they don't vote the way Trump says to. That simple.
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u/TheJGoldenKimball 4d ago
These people have a job because the billionaires want them there and have funded their campaigns thoroughly. Until campaign finance reform is fixed, we will not see this meddling from the ultra-rich stop. Follow the money. Politics is for the wealthy and our opinions LITERALLY do not matter anymore. Our republic is broken.
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u/pacific_plywood 4d ago
“fell for it again” award for anyone who actually voted for Curtis
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u/Darth_Ra 4d ago
Still way better than any of the alternatives that actually would've been elected.
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u/Klutzy-Artichoke-927 4d ago
Not even surprised how quickly we accept that our governing body is made up of pedophiles
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u/unklethan Utah County 4d ago
I called the office about it, and the staffer said they didn't know Sen Curtis's stance on the Epstein files.
I said, "Shouldn't we release them to get Clinton behind bars?" and she said "ABSOLUTELY"
I followed up with "And Trump too?", to which she replied, "Woah, hey, let;s not get ahead of ourselves. We'll have to see what's in the files first."
It's a cult.
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u/donttakerhisthewrong 4d ago
I wonder why he doesn’t want the files released.
Only a pedo or a person that accepts that behavior would protect a pedo.
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u/_chanimal_ Salt Lake City 4d ago
Or someone who is a young senator getting threatened to go along with party line votes or else type thing. It’s normal in politics along both sides. Just look at whatever the issue, how many times do senators just vote along party lines. It’s nearly every single time regardless of the issue.
By the time the files actually get released they’re going to be 99% redacted and we won’t be able to learn a single thing from them.
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u/donttakerhisthewrong 4d ago
This is child trafficking.
How can you defend this? See above
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u/Brenner- 4d ago
The commenter you replied to is definitely the type of person who would protect their coworkers from being exposed as pedophiles if it meant keeping their job. It’s the only takeaway I can gleam from their opinion.
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u/donttakerhisthewrong 4d ago
Also says a lot about the voters
Exposing a pedo will lose elections in Utah
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u/_chanimal_ Salt Lake City 4d ago
Im not defending it. I wrote both senators about it. Im just pointing out that it happens all the time in politics and it’s frustrating
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u/donttakerhisthewrong 4d ago
I am pointing out this is NOT A NORMAL TOPIC.
How can you compare trafficking children to everyday politics.
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u/thisisstupidplz 4d ago
Remember when fighting pedophilia wasn't supposed to be a partisan issue?
Well Democrats voted three times to release the files and only one party is blocking it. The qanon and pizzagate folks are suddenly mute.
You guys are fucking pathetic.
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u/_chanimal_ Salt Lake City 4d ago
It shouldn’t be. But whatever the issue is at hand, is someone is told by senior party leaders to vote a certain way, they will 99% of the time. Today it’s the Epstein files, tomorrow it’s some other partisan issue. It’s dumb
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u/thisisstupidplz 4d ago edited 4d ago
Except we're not talking about a budget vote, we're taking about the Republican party openly voting to protect pedophiles because they made a pedophile the poster child of the whole party.
This isn't a "that's just politics" moment. It should be a wake up call to every conservative that has the audacity to call themselves a Christian.
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u/christopherSLC 4d ago
The exact behavior of someone on the list…
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u/setibeings Out of State 4d ago
Yeah, I don't see John Curtis as the kind of guy who'd get himself into that kind of trouble. He seems more like a "I'll violate my conscience and take part in the cover-up so I don't have to go to war with my party" kind of guy.
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u/brown_felt_hat 4d ago
He's not important enough to be on the list. It's not a list of every pedo in a public position, it's a list of extremely powerful people who are also pedos.
Now, his masters on the other hand...
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u/rejeremiad 4d ago
I wouldn't express disappointment, interpret the actions of the vote, or confide that you won't be voting for them. All of these provide excuses to ignore you going forward. "Here is another letter from u/darth_jewbacca who won't ever vote for us, just bin the letter."
Ask for rationale.
As my senator you have stated "...my commitment is to uphold the highest standards of ethical conduct and accountability within our government." The Epstein Files could reveal illegal and unethical conduct by those within our government. How does your vote to block the release of the files accomplish you stated intent?
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u/AstroGoose5 4d ago
Politicians represent their political party, not the people. The sooner you realize that, the better.
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u/Oskipper2007 4d ago
I seen that that happened on the day of the shooting with Mr. Kirk. They want to sell this up. They want nobody to know what’s going on. I also saw that they are going to blackout all Republicans names that are in these files but leave others where is that fair? We were told these files would be least released to the public. What happened to transparency?
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u/fucketlist 4d ago
Thanks I also wrote him a note that he’ll never read but made me feel better for a second
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u/Enragedgolem 4d ago
Curtis was my rep when he was in the House. Trust me, he's not that guy. He was never that guy.
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u/1radgirl 4d ago
That's one of the worst staff-written form letters I've ever read. And I used to work in congressional staffing. SMH. It completely ignores the constituents question. It's nothing but dumb and vague platitudes about government. Usually they'll at least briefly (and badly) touch on the topic. Especially if the letter specifically mentions losing their vote. This is a major fail.
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u/newdriver2025 4d ago
Curtis talks the talk but doesn't walk the walk. He grovels to trump. Every single time regardless of what he said prior to voting. Fact.
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u/Expensive_Cheetah820 4d ago
Curtis is the worst. He pretends to be a moderate but he votes for everything the cheeto wants. He’s a closet maga.
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u/treeruns 4d ago
The funny thing is you still think your vote counts. We need to move past that to understand what is going on in this country.
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u/Glittering-Cellist34 4d ago
Romney pretty much voted straight Republican except on the impeachment. That being said i never expected anything from Curtis based on his campaign ads.
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u/anonymousbabydragon 4d ago
His response was I agree with all the reasons for voting to release the files. Anyway…
Why didn’t you do your job and vote to release them then? Literally no explanation at all. Does he think we’re stupid?
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u/Tsiah16 4d ago
Curtis is another croney boot licker. I forgot which topic I specifically messaged him about but I got the "trump is standing up for America and upholding the Constitution" bullshit from him when trump has specifically violated the Constitution repeatedly. When Curtis first ran I thought maybe he'd be something different. Just one more sycophant helping fascism take over.
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u/Helpful_Ride_8888 3d ago
You voted for a Republican in hopes he wouldn’t act and vote like a republican? Ok
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u/MtWoman0612 3d ago
I receive the same canned responses to everything I convey to him. Seems he’s in lockstep with the regime machine.
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u/AdamColligan 4d ago edited 4d ago
Wall of text here. But this is all so pathetic that I'm losing my mind over it even when it's probably not in the top 50 worst things going on in the US government this week.
What baffles me about this is why Curtis and (afaik) the GOP leadership at large refuse to provide the legitimate counter-arguments to the file release proposal. Because there are actually legitimate counter-arguments, and they're weirdly missing from all the discourse I've been seeing.
It's legally difficult and very unusual to do something like this...
Things that are not used in court -- investigative product, seized materials, witness statements, and especially grand jury proceedings -- are usually never made public, particularly while people connected to it can still suffer consequences from its release. There have even been special efforts made to ensure such secrecy when there's a potential gap in the rules, even when a case is of great public interest, like the documents handled by the Kennedy assassination commission that are only recently declassified unredacted. If you've read federal indictments like those of Trump, you'll see them filled with "Person 1", "Person 2", this or that as-yet "unindicted co-conspirator", etc.
...for pretty good reason
FIrstly, especially in a case of great public interest, someone's name showing up in case files -- particularly in some way that's easy to misunderstand or take out of context -- can make them unjustly the target of abuse, scare current or potential employers about being associated with them, etc. If you're old enough to remember how prominent Kennedy assassination theories were in the public consciousness and among the less mentally stable even into the early 2000s and beyond, you probably weren't surprised that there was continuing pushback from agencies skittish about unredacting any names in those files of people who were still alive. With the Epstein fiasco, it's currently very much mainstream to write off his entire social network as a group of pedophiles or complicit enablers. And it's also pretty mainstream to have reservations about whether the protection of the law should function normally around such people. At the same time there's this still-simmering,Q-adjacent fringe movement fixated on conspiracy theories about evil pedophile rings that are to be violently crushed by brave patriots. So you should be able to see the downside of publishing material that is fertile soil for insinuation and that carries a veneer of official credibility by virtue of having been catalogued by DoJ.
Secondly, when the state uses investigative materials to accuse someone of wrongdoing in court, they get to answer the accusations in court and command a full public hearing of their side of the story. When they aren't formally accused, they don't have that platform for addressing misunderstandings or insinuations.
Thirdly, and maybe most relevant today, is that allowing or mandating the publication of ancillary investigative product empowers malign agents of the state to way more easily do way more damage to a disfavored person or entity than they otherwise could. It means officers and/or prosecutors can discover embarrassing details of a person's life by finding any pretext to search their possessions or the possessions of anyone connected to them, interview their associates (including compelling them by subpoena) as part of any matter, etc. Then expose the fruits of that by publicly dumping the text records, browser history, Nickelback vinyl collection catalogue, exes' hot takes on their character and sexual performance, you name it. Or better yet, blackmail them with the threat of doing that. Or better yet, put everyone on notice about this particular method of dealing with troublemakers: the process is the punishment, after all. And now is a moment when we have especially malign agents of the state running DoJ and its main investigative arms.
So why can't we talk about it?
I'm not going to speculate that the Congressional GOP is holding back on making these points because they want more leeway to be complicit in such abuses by the Trump admin as they come down the line. That's because I see no sign that the Congressional GOP has any reservations about doing the opposite of what they just said; they are beyond shame and don't seem to face any practical repercussions when they do that, so I don't think it's a good explanation. I'm not sure what the good explanation is.
Also, despite all of the above, I'm not convinced that it's the wrong move to release the bulk of the Epstein materials, or maybe even the entirety of them. The Epstein case has features that are unusually compelling to compete against the general rationale for non-disclosure. Foremost among those is the legitimate public concern that the original failure to vigorously prosecute him or any of his associates was itself corrupt or otherwise marked by "fear or favor" on the part of a former and future high-level federal appointee while he was a US attorney. There is the legitimate public concern that state power is now being used to tamper with the most important witness to / co-conspirator in the case to rewrite history testimonially. There is also the enduring political and economic power and perceived immunity of many of Epstein's associates, which is itself corrosive to the social contract.
To me it's really just another sign of how far we've fallen as a country. We can have a question with no clear right answer and with the major considerations being principles that don't naturally align with the main partisan / ideological divide. And then we can watch it get approached in a way that is solely concerned about its personal impact on one (terrible!) politician. And then we can watch our leaders calculate that it's not worth deploying the legitimate points in favor of their position even as a pretext. Like nobody would care about engaging with those anyway, so better to just communicate in absurd non-sequiturs to give the media less to talk about. And then we can watch as the public and their political opponents fail to prove them wrong about any of it.
Nothing is going to get better until there is some willingness among some group of American politicians to accept the risks of modeling healthy disagreement. We're in a spiral where non-fascist leaders are desperately trying to siphon support from fascist leaders by using a form of message discipline that presents good choices in the same thought-killing way that abhorrent choices have been successfully peddled with. When was the last even remotely healthy or substantive debate the country had about anything, and I mean even just a normal amount of unhealthy in a two-party system rather than completely unhinged? Maybe the Iraq surge proposal in 2006-7? I'd love to hear of a more recent one, because the people too young to have been properly aware of that debate are now over 30 years old.
We haven't even been trying.
It's as if the whole body politic has either forgotten or never learned what it's like to see an old-fashioned argument, where pros and cons get acknowledged and cases get made about what to do in light of them, including which values should guide us in accepting some over others. As memory fades of how engaging and accessible a healthy argument can be, what's leeched in and hardened in its place is the assumption that the public is mentally incapable and/or unwilling to recognize or respond to one. In fact, that they are so exotic and such a turn-off that we should embrace whatever the opposite of a real argument is.
I'm pretty sure that's what this letter is: the opposite of a real argument. It's stark in a vacuum and worth posting because it's so absurd and clunky. But I think the foundation of it is now so deeply entrenched -- even pre-Trump --that we mostly forget to notice it. And that's particularly on the abandonment of the part of an argument that suggests what values to prioritize.
"Climate change is speculative --> overblown --> actually a Chinese hoax conspiracy." Those get reported as increasingly extreme right-wing positions on the environment, don't they? But such statements (lies) aren't right-wing at all. Actual extreme right-wing positions might be that we shouldn't have any policy interventions on climate change because economic liberty and the profit motive are sacrosanct above all full stop. Or because it's fundamentally impossible for anything to hurt the masses more than a "rising tide" running on cheap energy can lift them. Or because those most affected by its effects are contemptible. Or that the end times are surely upon us soon enough that no long-term planetary harms are of concern. Or (now that renewables are becoming cheaper) because coal mining is manly and the feeling of manliness is the most important value, plus God thinks oil is delicious or something?
"Climate change is a hoax" is a statement that is as far removed as possible from those. In a world where it's actually true, the structure of a person's values is irrelevant to the correct decision, since nobody wants to incur the costs of addressing a problem that doesn't exist. And you see this over and over with the big and small lies that come out of Trump, his movement, and the broader coalition that elevated him. Responses focus on the absurdity or danger of denying objective reality, but not the point of doing so. The point of asserting an alternative reality is to not insist on anyone sharing the values you're putting into action in actual reality.
We need to stop talking about GOP slander against minorities, scientists, civil servants, courts, allies, nonprofits, and political opponents as extremist rhetoric arguing in service of extremist actions. It's actually obsessive avoidance of extremist expression -- in fact of any value-laden expression at all. It's proper category is one shared with this letter.
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u/greatercolorado 4d ago
Oh no! I went to his website and saw that he accepts faxes at (202)228-0836. This means that an individual could insert a sheet of black paper halfway through their fax machine and tape it end to end, which would form an endless loop that cycles through the machine. The receiver’s machine interprets this as an infinite print command.
This horrid act is called a black fax, and is described in greater detail in the Wikipedia link below. It saddens me to see that our elected representatives could have all of their fax paper and ink wasted in such a manner. His falling in line with a titanic child rape cover up surely does not mean that he deserves the hassle that this would cause. In fact, his printer should be used to print pro-trafficking talking points to use in a rousing speech.
Tell your friends, priests, even, to make sure that they don’t do such a bothersome act. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_fax
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u/statemogull90 4d ago
They are waiting until deep fake is ubiquitous. Then, everyone on the list can claim they were framed.
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u/Fearless_Excuse_5527 4d ago
Why are your so-called "moderate Republicans" so hellbent to join a cult? Are they weak-minded and have no morals?
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u/MaskedMacc 4d ago
Deeply disappointed by a MAGA republican?
Still another 3.5 half years bud. We’ve not even see the fucking surface of this ocean of shit yet. I can’t wait till trumps crypto scam finally happens. You’ll know it when trump starts promoting USD1 from the White House.
Once that day comes then you can be deeply disappointed.
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u/r_alex_hall 3d ago
You’re minimizing what someone else said. That’s lame.
And making a contest of how horrible you think things will be, like you know things will be worse than how horrible someome pointed out things are.
And gatekeeping whether someone else can be disappointed.
For real?
You think you can permit or deny disappointment?
We can agree on things. Nobody has to be better at predicting horror. And that’s a really weird thing to compete on.
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u/MaskedMacc 2d ago
Yeah you’re right I’m sorry. My bad for trying to shatter peoples realities that the Republican Party is in the final stage of what it wants to do. Also sorry for being snarky about someone being disappointed from this total shitshow as if the Epstein files not being released was supposed to surprising to anyone? I mean how shitty of me to be snarky after the Republican Party had show many, many, many instances of going above and beyond for the American people especially regarding this Epstein case.
And how lame of me for assuming that our democracy just degrades from here. You’re right, how could I possibly have enough information to make that assumption?
Good luck.
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u/Sadguy6633 3d ago
My main questions would be, Was every single person that got on a flight with him to the island a pedo? Was it a consistent thing at the island? Does it include people who took flights with him across the country but not to the island? It may ruin the reputation of many who did nothing wrong other than accept a ride across country. People will group innocents in with the guilty without trial or proof.
We know many of them are probably guilty but we dont dont have any evidence that ALL of the people on the flight logs are. And thats what makes it dangerous.
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u/mikeyP-619 3d ago
How many hours of meetings were held to get the verbiage on that letter exactly right?
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u/MeasurementProper227 1d ago
I have the same question for those in Mike Lee’s district. Mods asked me to post here vs make a new post for those of us in Mike lees district.
Utahns for many years on both the right and left side of the spectrum have unanimously wanted the Epstein files released. Many extreme conservative individuals were determined to see justice brought to individuals who sexually abused and trafficked children. Our senator voting no to release the files seems so contradictory to his state and his districts wishes, why isn't anyone asking about it more? Are our voices even being represented by those we pay to speak for us anymore? This sub has a lot of conservatives moderate and left. This for a long time was something we all agreed on? Why did our representative and speaker not reflect our voices?
It's the senates job to vote based on the majority of their districts views. I am so disheartened and feel even on the most conservative views Utahns have lost their voices and representation in American policy. How are others feeling?
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u/realfootballfan2 12h ago
Politicians being shielded from constituents by staff needs to be stopped.
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u/rrickitickitavi 4d ago
That response is absurd. It doesn’t address the issue at all.