Co-sponsors of petition to release Epstein files foresee growing GOP support for upcoming vote

By Piper HudspethBlackburn, Aileen Graef, CNN

(CNN) — The lawmakers behind the effort to force the Justice Department to release all of the Jeffrey Epstein case files appeared optimistic on Sunday about their bill’s chances of passing, insisting there was growing support among the GOP in the US House.

GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky said Sunday that he thinks 100 or more Republicans in the House could break with President Donald Trump, who attempted to flip the handful of Republicans who signed on to his discharge petition effort with California Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat.

A discharge petition forces a floor vote even if it is not introduced by leadership. House Speaker Mike Johnson has previously called the effort a “moot point” given an ongoing House Oversight Committee investigation, which has released thousands of documents, including from Epstein’s estate.

The decision to move quickly with a floor vote, which is expected on Tuesday, came shortly after thousands of new Epstein emails were released by the panel on Wednesday.

“I think we could have a deluge of Republicans. There could be 100 or more. I’m hoping to get a veto-proof majority on this legislation when it comes up for a vote,” Massie said on ABC’s “This Week.”

Massie said he thinks Trump is “trying to protect a bunch of rich and powerful friends, billionaires, donors to his campaign, friends in his social circles” and told his fellow GOP lawmakers that the “record of this vote will last longer” than Trump’s presidency.

“I would remind my Republican colleagues who are deciding how to vote, Donald Trump can protect you in red districts right now by giving you an endorsement, but in 2030 he’s not going to be the president, and you will have voted to protect pedophiles,” he said.

Khanna, who said he’s hoping around 40 Republican lawmakers will vote to release all the Epstein files this week, insisted on Sunday that Trump was “sowing the seeds for his own lame-duck presidency” by going after Republicans in Congress who support the release of the files, such as Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

“He’s out of touch with his own base,” Khanna said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Greene, once a staunch Trump ally, has fallen out of favor with the president over her support for the release of files. Trump said Friday that he would no longer support and endorse Greene, who is running for reelection in 2026.

Greene, for her part, lamented the fracture, insisting on Sunday that the rift “has all come down to the Epstein files.” She told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union” that she doesn’t understand why the president is fighting the files’ release, as she doesn’t believe he has been implicated in anything illegal by any of Epstein’s victims.

“That is the question everyone is asking, is ‘Why fight this so hard?’” Greene said, adding she would continue to do her “small part” to get the files released.

Though Trump has opposed the effort in the House to release the files, he said late last week that he would ask the Justice Department to investigate Epstein’s ties to a slew of high-profile figures linked to the Democratic Party. Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Friday she would launch the investigation, assigning Jay Clayton, the US attorney in New York’s Southern District, to lead it. The move raised fears among critics that the president is seeking to use the Justice Department to politicize any investigation.

Khanna said he’s concerned the probe could also get in the way of releasing the files, even as his and Massie’s effort awaits an uncertain fate in Congress’ upper chamber.

“I’m all for investigation wherever it leads, in terms of whether it’s Democrat or Republican,” Khanna said. “My concern is that he is doing this to prevent a release of the files, because some people are saying that when you can say there’s an active investigation, you don’t have to release the files.”

When asked on Sunday whether he thinks the Senate would take up the effort, Massie said he hopes Senate Majority Leader John Thune will “do the right thing,” insisting that “pressure is going to be there if we get a big vote in the House.”

With the bill’s precarious future in the Senate apparent, Johnson was seemingly resigned to its passage this week in the House, dismissing the move as a Democratic political stunt.

“We’ll just get this done and move it on. There’s nothing to hide,” Johnson said on “Fox News Sunday.”

A senior White House official told CNN last week that Trump was made aware ahead of time that Johnson was going to expedite the vote, and that the two had spoken about it.

“It was made clear to President Trump, and he understands that this is an inevitable reality,” the official said.

CNN’s Annie Grayer and Manu Raju contributed to this report.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.