Thomas Massie Says He’s Optimistic About Forcing a Vote on the Epstein Files

Rep. Thomas Massie said Thursday that his effort to force a vote on the Justice Department’s Jeffrey Epstein files is gaining steam.

“We’ll get to 218” signatures, Massie told reporters of the discharge petition he is leading along with Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna. The measure would force a vote on the House floor to compel the Justice Department to release all the documents related to Epstein’s case.

There are currently 215 signatures, primarily Democrats. Along with Massie, three Republicans have signed on to the measure: Reps. Nancy Mace, Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Massie wouldn’t say which additional Republicans would join with all Democrats to force the measure. “It’ll take a week or two,” he said.

Lawmakers finished their legislative week on Capitol Hill with renewed public pressure to act on the Epstein files. It hit a fever pitch after a handful of survivors of Epstein’s abuse spoke out, in closed-door meetings with lawmakers and in a highly publicized press conference on Wednesday.

The survivors on Tuesday met with Speaker Mike Johnson and lawmakers on the House Oversight Committee, which has been investigating Epstein’s case and released thousands of pages of documents they obtained from the DOJ to the public that evening.

Massie said he didn’t think this Epstein pressure would go away anytime soon, suggesting lawmakers would sift through the DOJ information and not see any new information.

“I think, ironically, the release by the DOJ is going to increase the pressure,” Massie said. “When everybody gets time to sift through the 34,000 individual pages, and finds out there’s almost nothing new in there, and everything that’s interesting is redacted, like all the flight logs.”

Democrats, meanwhile, have been using the Epstein issue to push back against the administration, prompting President Donald Trump to repeatedly say the call for more documents is a “Democratic hoax.”

Johnson told reporters Thursday morning he does not believe Massie will get enough Republican signature votes to succeed to force the vote, adding that he does not understand the strategy behind Massie’s efforts for his reelection prospects.

“He is actively working against his team almost daily now and seems to enjoy that role, so he is deciding his own fate,” Johnson said about Massie.

Asked whether the discharge petition was necessary, Johnson pointed to a measure that was passed by the House along party lines Wednesday that reinforces the Oversight investigation into Epstein.

“The whole effort has been mooted. It’s not necessary anymore. Let me make this very clear,” Johnson said. “The Oversight Committee’s effort goes further than the discharge. It requests and seeks and is actually gathering more documents than is even anticipated by the discharge.”

Discharge petition backers plan to continue to press for more Republicans to join.

“We need two more Republicans” to join the discharge petition, Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández told reporters after a meeting with survivors Wednesday. “We are hoping that their stories, which are being heard across the country and across the world, will motivate two more Republicans to have the courage.”