Only four House Republicans signed the discharge petition to force a vote on releasing the so-called Epstein files. Many more are considering voting in favor of the document dump.
“If it comes on the floor, I’m gonna vote for it. I always said that. I’m a little reluctant to do the discharge because I don’t feel like I’m part of the group that’s on there,” Rep. Don Bacon, a more moderate member of the Republican conference, told NOTUS.
That group is made up of Reps. Thomas Massie, Lauren Boebert, Nancy Mace and Marjorie Taylor Greene, some of the party’s most frequent rabble rousers.
“By the way, the White House brought it on themselves to say they had all these client lists. ‘We got the binders. Oops. There’s nothing there,’” Bacon added.
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Bacon, and the nearly two dozen House Republicans NOTUS talked to Wednesday evening, said he does not think files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein will incriminate Donald Trump, despite their known social ties. Still several Republicans said they are supportive of maximizing transparency.
“Let the chips fall where they fall,” Bacon said.
The petition forces a vote to compel the Justice Department to release Epstein files in seven legislative days. Johnson told reporters he plans to put the bill on the floor next week.
The White House spent Wednesday attempting to cajole Boebert and Mace to remove their names from the petition to no avail. Now, the House GOP appears poised to split on the legislation when it comes to the floor.
“I’m a little bit troubled that we’re trying to undo a shutdown here, and the most important thing at the White House was trying to stop a vote on releasing the Epstein files,” Massie said of the White House’s involvement on Wednesday. “It seems like they were all scrambling over there to stop this.”
While Republican leadership has repeatedly killed amendments and resolutions that aimed to release files, many Republicans have long been sympathetic to the public interest in Epstein documents. Oversight Chair James Comer in particular has overseen the publication of tens of thousands of documents that his panel obtained from a Justice Department subpoena and the Epstein estate.
“At the end of the day, we’re doing everything and more that the discharge petition says,” Comer told reporters. “The discharge petition says for the administration to release all the documents. I already subpoenaed Pam Bondi for the documents, and they are thus far producing documents. And remember, there are a lot of class-action lawsuits. There’s still supposedly an investigation or two out there.”
Asked later if that means Comer will vote against the bill, he quickly responded, “I didn’t say that.”
Others left the door open to voting in favor of the legislation as well, even if they would not back it on the record Wednesday evening.
“I’d take a closer look at it,” Rep. Nick LaLota told NOTUS. “The one big flaw it has is it probably over-discloses information, and it requires victims to relive their experiences. If the petition, the underlying bill, didn’t have that flaw, and it’d be a much easier yes.”
Rep. Tim Burchett — who unsuccessfully called for immediate consideration of the discharge petition Wednesday evening — told NOTUS, “Unless there’s something shady in it I’m going to vote for it.”
Massie, the Republican architect of the petition, told reporters Wednesday that he anticipates more Republicans will ultimately join his effort, and that some lawmakers had contacted him privately to tell him that they would vote for the legislation.
The White House was inundated with questions Wednesday about newly released emails from Epstein’s estate — including one email from Epstein that said Trump knew “about the girls.” Trump’s aides attempted to intervene at the 11th hour on Wednesday, meeting with Boebert over her signature — a meeting that proved to be unsuccessful, a person familiar told NOTUS. Trump also spoke with Boebert in a conversation, the person said. Trump played phone tag with Mace on Wednesday, per another person familiar, but Mace told NOTUS she had no plans to remove her name from the list.
Boebert said she was assured that the administration is guaranteeing transparency on the files.
“I was assured today that this is an administration that’s going to continue to be transparent and honest and we’ll see what comes of it,” Boebert said of the meeting. “But there was no pressure and everybody was great and worked just well with me.”
Despite the defectors, Trump still has plenty of loyalists who stand by him despite any potential ties between him and Epstein.
“I haven’t seen it,” Trump’s former physician Rep. Ronny Jackson told NOTUS of the emails revealed Wednesday from Epstein’s estate. “What I’ve heard so far is just reiteration that he ended up kicking Epstein out of his club. So I think, if anything, I would say it looks like he was uncomfortable with Epstein and didn’t want to be around him anymore.”
As for whether he would back the bill, however, Jackson “No, probably not.”
Conservative Rep. Clay Higgins was also critical of the effort.
“The petition itself is poorly written and it supports an endeavor that’s contrary to long standing criminal justice procedures in America so I have opposed it on that basis,” Higgins told NOTUS.
“I don’t judge them, they’re friends of mine,” he said of the petition’s leaders. “Marjorie is my friend, and Lauren is my friend. Thomas Massie is my friend, but they’re all wrong. They’re wrong, wrong, wrong about this petition.”
Plenty more House Republicans sounded far less sure of themselves on Wednesday evening.
“We’ll see,” Rep. Ron Estes told NOTUS. “I haven’t really decided on how to vote on that yet.”
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