Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) said Arizona Democrat Adelita Grijalva’s special-election victory gives him the final signature needed to force a vote on releasing all Justice Department files on Jeffrey Epstein.

Grijalva, a former Pima County supervisor, won on Wednesday the seat that had been occupied by her father before he died of problems related to cancer treatment, according to reports. According to the Kentucky Lantern, Massie said:

Both of the candidates on the ballot promised to sign my discharge petition. And one of them won, obviously, and so now we’re going to have 218 signatures, and we’re going to force a vote on releasing those files.

Massie attended a forum in his district on Wednesday. He was joined by another Kentucky GOP lawmaker, Sen. Rand Paul, who is stumping for his friend in next year’s primary contest.

Massie is under intense fire from President Donald Trump, whose people have launched a super PAC that is spending millions of dollars to oust him. The president is not a fan of the Kentuckian’s brand of constitutional politics that sometimes causes him to vote against Trumpian interests. Massie and Paul are among the most constitutionally obedient lawmakers in Congress, which puts them at odds with other Republicans on policies related to spending and war powers, among others. Both have accrued impressive scores in The New American’s Freedom Index.

Massie told the Lantern that GOP leaders are “in full panic” now and have “politically ‘threatened’ Republican co-signers of the petition.” Including Massie, only four Republican representatives have signed the petition. The others are Nancy Mace of South Carolina, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, and Lauren Boebert of Colorado. The discharge petition would force House members to vote on the resolution to make publicly available all Epstein files possessed by the Justice Department (DOJ) (albeit with a few exceptions).

Congressional Republicans are supporting efforts for the release of the files through the House Oversight Committee, chaired by another Kentucky Republican, James Comer. But Massie has criticized other efforts as a sneaky way for the Trump DOJ to curate what comes out and what doesn’t.

According to the resolution, dubbed the “Epstein Files Transparency Act,” Attorney General Pam Bondi would have to release 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,” relating to Epstein. Moreover, the DOJ would have to release all files related to:

The resolution also includes a list of exceptions that would allow Bondi to withhold certain information, including records that:

Anticipating concerns that these exceptions might be abused, the resolution includes a clause that says all redactions must be justified and Bondi must declassify information “to the maximum extent possible.” Moreover, she must include a declassified version of what she’s holding back:

If the Attorney General makes a determination that covered information may not be declassified and made available in a manner that protects the national security of the United States, including methods or sources related to national security, the Attorney General shall release an unclassified summary for each of the redacted or withheld classified information. All decisions to classify any covered information after July 1, 2025 shall be published in the Federal Register and submitted to Congress, including the date of classification, the identity of the classifying authority, and an unclassified summary of the justification.

The discharge petition does not guarantee that the resolution will pass the House, only that all the representatives will vote on it. And there is also no guarantee that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) won’t try to block a vote on it, even if there is enough support. Massie said that Johnson would need 218 votes if he wanted to implement “some special parliamentary procedure” to block the vote. And anyone who votes for that is part of the coverup, according to Massie:

And if you participate in that vote to sideline the discharge petition, now you’re part of the coverup. So, they’re going to have a vote. I think they’re coming to terms with that. And I’m going to bet the speaker is probably going to hand out hall passes to some congressmen, because this is an 80-20 issue. He may be advising some of the members of the Republican Party to vote for my discharge petition.

Last week, Massie grilled FBI Director Kash Patel for not being transparent about the Epstein files. He even dropped the name of an alleged Epstein client — former banking executive Jes Staley — and hinted at the identities of 19 more. But when Massie suggested the FBI is holding piles of Epstein files, Patel essentially said that his agency has no further credible information to give to the public.