House votes to release the Epstein files
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Reps. Ro Khanna, Thomas Massie, and Marjorie Taylor Greene hold a news conference with survivors of Jeffrey Epstein outside the Capitol on Nov. 18. Photo: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
The House voted nearly unanimously Tuesday to compel the Justice Department to release all of its files pertaining to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Why it matters: Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and President Trump's last-minute support marked a dramatic reversal after a months-long pressure campaign, but significant barriers remain to public release of the files.
- The bill passed 427-1, with some of Epstein's victims who were watching from the gallery cheering the result. Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) was the lone "no" vote.
- Discharge petitions — a procedural tool for rank-and file members to bypass leadership and force legislation to come to the floor — rarely succeed. It's even rarer for leadership to back one.
What's next: Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has not committed to bringing the measure up for a vote, but pressure is building among senators for him to do so.
- Trump said Monday he would sign the bill, and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Tuesday that he would seek to pass it by unanimous consent in that chamber as soon as it comes over from the House.
- "We fought the president, the attorney general, the FBI director, the speaker of the House and the vice president to get this win," Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who led the effort, said during a press conference with Epstein's victims Tuesday morning.
Catch up quick: After years of promising to release the files, DOJ said in July that there was nothing to release, prompting bipartisan outrage and a resurgence of conspiracy theories.
- Seeking to bypass leadership opposition, Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) introduced a discharge petition soon after, but it didn't garner enough signatures until last week, when Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-Ariz) was sworn in.
- Johnson took almost two months to swear in the Arizona lawmaker, with Democrats alleging the delay was meant to forestall a vote on releasing the Epstein files.
Under pressure from the White House, initial Republican support for the discharge petition eroded significantly.
- It only received four GOP signatures: Massie, plus Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), Lauren Boebert (Colo.) and Nancy Mace (S.C.). The rest came from House Democrats.
- Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) told Axios in September she saw the petition as "a personal rift between Massie and the president," and Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) at the time called Massie's move "a back-handed slap to the president."
The intrigue: In a stunning shift, Trump reversed course late Sunday, endorsing the effort to release the files after once declaring supporting just that would be viewed as a "hostile act."
- Trump's blessing multiplied House Republican support, which had already been in the dozens, and led to leadership's about-face.
- Democrats, meanwhile, shrugged off Trump's claims of support, arguing that he simply saw the writing on the wall and didn't want to be on the losing side of the issue.
- "If Donald Trump is serious about his support for transparency, he can release the files TODAY without additional action from Congress," Democrats' messaging guidance said.
Zoom in: While Massie has always had a rocky relationship with Trump, the discharge petition is what ultimately caused Trump's public rebuke of him — and the president's search for a primary challenger.
- Just two days before Trump's shift, he broke his longtime alliance with Greene, which she attributed to her support for releasing the files.
- Trump lobbied Boebert to remove her name from the petition and tried to do the same with Mace.
Between the lines: Johnson fought against the effort from the start, using his control of the legislative calendar and behind-the-scenes pressure to keep it off the floor. Trump's reversal put the speaker in a tough spot.
- Johnson called the petition "moot," arguing that the House Oversight Committee's investigation into Epstein would yield more information.
- He insisted that the bill does not adequately protect Epstein's victims, as well as whistleblowers — and that it could reveal confidential methods and sources.
Despite his concerns, Johnson announced during a GOP conference meeting Tuesday morning that he would support the bill, Axios first reported.
- An hour later, the speaker defended his flip at a press conference, telling reporters "it's not a reversal," and arguing his support hinges on his confidence that the Senate will amend the bill to address his concerns.
Reality check: Trump's recent directive of DOJ to investigate Epstein's ties to former President Bill Clinton, officials at JP Morgan Chase and others may cause the files to never see the light of day.
- The bill allows DOJ to withhold information that could interfere with an ongoing federal investigation but requires written justification to Congress if it does so.
- DOJ could argue that releasing the files now would compromise that investigation.
- "There's not enough investigations to cover a thousand different crimes, a thousand different rapes, a thousand different sex trafficking instances," Massie said.
The bottom line: The wedge that the debate has driven through the MAGA-verse looks like it's here to stay.
- "This has been one of the most destructive things to MAGA," Greene said a press conference Tuesday with Epstein's victims.
Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional reporting.
