Speaker Mike Johnson is on the defensive as he prepares to let the House leave early for August recess rather than allow his conference be hammered further by agitation on both sides of the aisle over votes to release the Jeffrey Epstein files.
The Louisiana Republican Wednesday afternoon insisted, “no one in Congress is blocking Epstein documents.” He also defended his decision to shut down the Rules Committee this week and cancel consideration of key legislative agenda items after Republicans on the panel rebelled over being forced to take more Epstein votes.
“Republicans are preventing Democrats from making a mockery of the Rules Committee process because we refuse to engage in their political charade,” Johnson said. “That is what is happening, and nothing more.”
Johnson reiterated that Republicans need to “let the process play out,” and if more information doesn’t come out over August recess then Congress “will act” when lawmakers return. He added there was “no point in having a vote today” on Republicans’ non-binding Epstein resolution expressing support for the documents’ release — or any other Epstein-related bill, for that matter — because the Trump administration is working on unsealing grand jury information.
But he also cast doubt that a bipartisan bill from Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), that would compel the files to be unsealed, would ever see a full House vote, saying it had “problems.” GOP leaders believe they can kill Massie and Khanna’s push for a vote on this legislation if more information comes out over recess.
At the same time, Johnson appeared to cast doubt on his own party’s movement toward subpoenaing Ghislaine Maxwell, an Epstein co-conspirator, to testify.
Johnson said if Republicans want to go ahead and subpoena Maxwell, as they’re planning to do, then “that’s fine.” But he quickly referenced past Justice Department allegations that she is a pervasive liar, adding “can she be counted on to tell the truth…can we trust what she’s going to say?”
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