Donald Trump’s loudest Republican critic in Congress filed a discharge petition on Tuesday in a fresh bid to force the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
The president has been haunted by questions about his relationship with the convicted sex The president has been haunted by questions about his relationship with the convicted sex offender, and the pressure was long expected to intensify with Congress’s return this week from August recess.
Kentucky GOP Rep. Thomas Massie filed the petition Tuesday afternoon as lawmakers were heading back to Washington, D.C. for a jam-packed fall session.
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It starts the process of lawmakers collecting the 218 signatures necessary to force a vote on the legislation requiring the Justice Department to release the Epstein files.
Congressional Republican leaders scrambled to leave town some six weeks ago rather than hold the vote to release the files as the Trump administration was in crisis mode over its botched release of information.
But lawmakers calling for the files to be released vowed to continue their fight when Congress returned.
Massie teamed up with Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna in an effort to force a vote to release the files and put every member of the House on the record. All 212 Democrats are expected to support it, which means at least six Republicans will need to buck their party leadership and sign on in favor of it.
While House Speaker Mike Johnson had pushed back furiously on bringing their legislation to the floor for a vote, multiple House Republicans have already indicated that they will join Democrats and vote to release the files in the closely split House.
In an effort to stave off the discharge petition picking up steam, Republican leaders on Tuesday scheduled another vote on an entirely symbolic resolution for the House Oversight Committee to continue its investigation into the mishandling of the Epstein case.
Massie blasted it as a “meaningless vote to provide political cover for those members who don’t support our bipartisan legislation to force the release of the Epstein files.”
He and Khanna have expressed confidence that they will receive the necessary signatures to force the vote despite Republicans controlling the House. With the discharge petition filed, lawmakers can sign on at any time until the required signatures are gathered, forcing a vote.
It was one of several moves aimed at intensifying pressure over the Epstein files with Congress’s return.
On Tuesday, members of the House Oversight Committee met privately with multiple victims of the disgraced financier on Capitol Hill to hear their stories about Epstein.
The committee subpoenaed the Justice Department for documents in a last-minute bipartisan subcommittee push right before House members left on break. The first tranche of files was delivered to the committee earlier this month.
Democrats slammed the Justice Department for slow-walking the release of information and said the documents handed over so far were largely already public.
However, Democratic Ranking Member Robert Garcia indicated the Epstein estate will be turning over the Epstein birthday book that allegedly included a doodle of a naked woman and a note from Trump. Garcia stated the book and other documents would be provided to the committee on September 8.
Meanwhile, Massie and Khanna will also be joined by Epstein’s victims for a press conference on Wednesday morning at the U.S. Capitol as the pressure campaign for more information intensifies.
