As members of the House head off to a six-week summer recess, the specter of Jeffrey Epstein still looms large.
“If you ask my staff, which I do all the time, what’s the No. 1 phone call that we’re getting, this topic is the No. 1 reason that people call,” Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., told reporters as he left the Capitol on Wednesday afternoon.
Controversy over whether or not to compel the release of files on now-deceased convicted sex offender Epstein has consumed the House, as a group of Republicans and Democrats are backing legislation to force the release of the Department of Justice’s files on him.
Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., have introduced the bill to do just that, and it has a dozen Republicans and a dozen Democrats as cosponsors.
The House Republican leadership team announced there would be no votes Thursday, possibly due to the fallout, ending legislative activity early.
Massie and Khanna have advanced a discharge petition—a tool used to force a vote on a bill—which will “ripen” in September, meaning the House will likely have to vote on whether or not to consider the bill when members return from recess after Labor Day.
For now, the summer break has delayed this showdown.
Massie, something of a black sheep among the GOP, has fundraised for his reelection campaign using the issue, suggesting when he spoke with reporters Wednesday that it would not die down over the recess period.
“Over the August recess, I think momentum will build for transparency. I don’t think this is going to go away,” he told reporters. “We’ll get, I believe, every Democrat and at least a dozen Republicans who want transparency and justice [to support this bill].”
Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., an early sponsor of the Massie bill, told The Daily Signal, however, that he was skeptical about Democrats’ motives in supporting it.
“I think it’s about power,” he said. “They had four years to do something about it.”
Burlison, who also supports the bill, similarly questioned Democrats’ motives, even though the bill would need their support to pass.
Asked if Democrats were genuine in their talk of transparency, he told The Daily Signal, “I think some of them are. Some of them are not. So, I would lean upon you guys to do your research and look at their Twitter profiles and how often did they even talk about Epstein before his moment. People that suddenly are caring—the question is, why didn’t you care before?”
Republican House leadership has had a difficult time addressing the issue, as House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., simultaneously wants to support the Republican-controlled White House’s handling of a difficult case, while also denying Democrats a messaging win with their accusations that the GOP lacks transparency on Epstein.
The House Rules Committee has passed a nonbinding resolution urging the Department of Justice to release more information on Epstein, but it has not gone to the floor yet.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told reporters that he was happy with that resolution, and would give Republican leadership and the White House some leeway to handle the issue.
“Look, this administration has said that they were going to be transparent on this. They’ve put a lot of information out. They’ve said that they’re going to deal with the grand jury,” he said, referencing President Donald Trump’s order to Attorney General Pam Bondi to request grand jury transcripts on the Epstein investigation.
“I will say that the Rules Committee spoke with one very clear voice a week ago when we put forward and voted on a resolution that would call on the Department of Justice to release all information within 30 days,” Roy added. “I thought that was a good resolution. I was happy and proud to support it.”
Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., a House Freedom Caucus ally of Roy, who also serves on the Rules Committee, pushed back on Democrats claiming to want to release the Epstein files.
“Why during the four years that they had it with Biden, where was the fever then? Crickets … And so where was their voices? So, that question answers itself,” he told The Daily Signal.
He also made the case that the Rules Committee’s resolution, although nonbinding, might be more pragmatic than Massie’s bill, since the latter would have a difficult time passing the Senate.
“I talked to Thomas about it, told him I liked the content of it. Our resolution pretty much mirrored his discharge petition,” Norman said. “Now, it’s not binding. But you know, if we did a bill and the Democrats are all in a tizzy over the timing, if we did a bill that went to the Senate, how long do you think it’ll take to get back? Kind of a long time.”
The South Carolina lawmaker appears to be open to a multitude of strategies to get more information, including the Trump administration’s attempts to secure grand jury transcripts—a request that was denied by a federal judge in Florida on Wednesday. He is hopeful the Trump administration will win this ongoing court battle.
“I don’t agree with all the judicial decisions, and particularly on this,” he said. “They tried to block the deportations, and the court ultimately ruled that Trump was right on that. So, I think you’ll find him contesting it, and rightfully so.”
Beyond the nonbinding leadership-backed resolution and Massie’s bipartisan bill, there’s another action taking place aimed at getting answers on Epstein—a subpoena to call Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s jailed longtime confidante and accomplice, to testify.
The House Oversight Committee, chaired by Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., has subpoenaed Maxwell for an Aug. 11 deposition in Tallahassee, Florida.
“While we’re going back to our districts to do district work, I’m very well-prepared for the fact that I’m probably going to have to fly somewhere to be a part of a deposition,” Burlison, who serves on the oversight panel, told reporters Wednesday.
Burchett, who personally filed the motion in the Oversight Committee that directed Comer to call up Maxwell, implied to The Daily Signal that there’s not much that could happen in Maxwell’s deposition that would eliminate the need for a release of the Epstein files.
“Yeah, I could see us—she’s just total disclosure and just throws open the books, but I don’t trust any of it now. It’s been four years. I don’t trust anything that comes out of this town,” he said.
Massie, for his part, told reporters he has no intentions of throwing out his bill if Maxwell testifies.
“That’s like one of 12 things that we need,” he said. “In our House resolution, which calls up the bill, we ask for a dozen different things and that testimony would be one thing, but that’s not a whole lot of stuff,” he said.
What these members were all united on was the idea that action must be taken soon to bring more information to light.
“We’ll see what happens over August. I expect that we’re going to get some more information. If we don’t, then I expect that there will be action in September,” Roy said, but without going into specifics.
Norman expressed openness to Massie and Khanna’s bill to release the files if answers did not come soon.
“I’m for whatever it takes to release all the information. Now, the discharge petition typically is a tool for the minority. So, I don’t like that vehicle on this, but you’ll see it being released,” Norman said.
Burlison, a sponsor of Massie’s bill, said that what happens in August will determine his ultimate support for a discharge petition to force a vote on it.
“It depends on how much activity has happened between now and then,” he told reporters. “If it’s clear that they are on task to releasing the documents, and there’s been movement, then I may not sign the discharge petition.”
Later Wednesday, another step was taken to force further action, when an Oversight subcommittee voted 8-2 to subpoena the Justice Department’s files on Epstein.