Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) on Tuesday mentioned he would attempt to use a long-shot procedural gambit to power a vote on requiring the Division of Justice to launch recordsdata associated to convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The transfer comes as President Trump and his administration face blowback from many throughout the GOP base over their dealing with of details about the disgraced financier, and as Trump makes an attempt to tamp down the quantity of consideration the difficulty is receiving.
“We all deserve to know what’s in the Epstein files, who’s implicated, and how deep this corruption goes. Americans were promised justice and transparency,” Massie mentioned Tuesday in a submit on the social platform X.
“We’re introducing a discharge petition to force a vote in the US House of Representatives on releasing the COMPLETE files,” he added.
Massie’s decision, co-sponsored by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), would require Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi to “make publicly available in a searchable and downloadable format all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in the possession of the Department of Justice, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and United States Attorneys’ Offices” which have hyperlinks with Epstein inside 30 days of the measure changing into legislation.
It additionally says the recordsdata can’t “be withheld, delayed, or redacted” ought to they trigger “embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary.”
A discharge petition requires 218 signatures to bypass Home management and power a vote on a measure. Such petitions are not often profitable, with members of the bulk usually hesitant to buck their very own leaders, and it’s uncommon to see a member of the bulk lead the cost on such an effort.
Massie, nonetheless, hasn’t been shy about bucking each Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Trump. He has most not too long ago opposed the White Home’s strikes on Iran and voted in opposition to Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” main Trump to threaten an effort to oust him within the midterms.
Khanna, in the meantime, has led the cost on the Democratic aspect in calling for a Home vote to launch the Epstein recordsdata.
Proper-wing influencers who’ve lengthy pushed conspiracy theories about Epstein not too long ago turned their fury towards the Trump administration, particularly Bondi, as a consequence of a current Justice Division memo in search of to dispel these theories.
The memo from final week mentioned no proof existed that Epstein had a “client list” or that he tried to blackmail highly effective figures implicated in his crimes. It additionally concluded Epstein’s demise was as a consequence of suicide, pushing again in opposition to theories that he was killed in his jail cell.
The Hill has reached out to the Division of Justice for remark.
