6 hours ago

Thomas Massie Files ‘Discharge Petition’ To Force House Vote On Epstein Files

WASHINGTON ― Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) on Tuesday formally filed a motion that could force the House to vote on a bill requiring the Justice Department to release its files on the late sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.

The so-called discharge petition allows any House member to bring a bill to the floor for a vote ― even against the wishes of the speaker ― if the member can gather signatures from a majority of House members.

Several Republicans have previously said they’d back Massie’s effort, and the congressman has said he’s confident most Democrats will go along with it as well.

In an apparent effort to knock Massie’s petition off track, however, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) scheduled a possible vote this week on a symbolic resolution directing the House Oversight Committee to continue its already ongoing investigation into the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein case.

President Donald Trump was friends with Epstein and has demanded his supporters quit clamoring for more information, calling the story a Democratic hoax.

It’s possible some Republicans who support the Massie resolution would be willing to back off and say they’re voting instead to encourage the Oversight Committee, which has already begun receiving Epstein material from the Justice Department in response to a bipartisan subpoena from the committee last month.

“The oversight resolution is designed to give political cover to people without having any teeth,” Massie told HuffPost on Tuesday, adding that the resolution wouldn’t actually require the Justice Department to produce its Epstein documents.

Massie said he didn’t know how long it would take for his motion to gather the necessary 218 signatures, although he noted that some of his Republican colleagues have informed him that the White House has been directly lobbying them.

Johnson has grown increasingly exasperated with Massie. “I would describe virtually everything Thomas Massie says related to this issue as meaningless,” Johnson told reporters on Tuesday.

Assuming the discharge petition succeeds, the bill would need to pass both the House and the Senate, and it would require two-thirds majorities of each chamber to overcome a presidential veto.

Epstein killed himself in 2019 after the Justice Department secured an indictment against him for sex trafficking minors. The Justice Department previously declined to prosecute Epstein after state police first arrested him in 2006. His death in prison prompted speculation, including by high-ranking Republicans, that he’d been murdered to prevent him from naming accomplices or revealing a “client list” full of famous and powerful people.

In July, after U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi had vowed to release the Justice Department’s Epstein files, the department said there was no client list and nothing that would be appropriate to release. The announcement prompted a right-wing backlash that led to Massie’s discharge petition as well as the Oversight Committee subpoena.

Massie said the Justice Department would “absolutely not” cooperate in good faith with the subpoena and that it would be better for Congress to pass a law requiring the material’s release.

“They’re curating this,” Massie said. “And the oversight committee’s investigation, which I appreciate them doing, is focused on the investigators… It’s not focused on finding co-conspirators or people who were involved in Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking ring. It’s not focused on that at all, and I suspect it will lead to zero criminal referrals.”