House members are wasting no time laying the groundwork this week for a confrontation with GOP leaders over releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Freshly back in Washington from the August recess, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) plans to take the formal steps at 2 p.m. today to file a discharge petition, the procedural maneuver necessary to bypass leadership and force a vote on his resolution compelling the DOJ to unseal the files related to the late, convicted sex offender.
Once he does that, Massie said in a social media post Tuesday morning, he can begin gathering the necessary 218 signatures required to bring the resolution to the floor. He said in an interview last week he expects to secure that number quickly. Massie also has co-sponsored the measure with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), so a combination of support from virtually all Democrats and at least a handful of Republicans all but guarantees the two lawmakers will meet that threshold.
A bipartisan group of House members, including leadership of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is set to convene a closed-door meeting with Epstein’s victims Tuesday afternoon, according to a person granted anonymity to share details of a private event.
A group of Epstein’s victims also plan to hold a rally on Capitol Hill Wednesday morning, separate from a long-scheduled press conference Khanna and Massie will host with victims around that same time to highlight their discharge petition effort.
Despite GOP leaders’ efforts to quell the Epstein crisis over the recess, Massie said, “this has not gone away like the speaker had hoped.”
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