Speaker Mike Johnson is about to confront one of his biggest leadership tests yet, courtesy of voters in southwest Arizona.
They are highly likely to elect a new Democratic House member in a special election Tuesday. That would-be lawmaker, Adelita Grijalva, told POLITICO she plans to become the 218th and clinching supporter of a bipartisan effort to force public disclosure of federal investigative files related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
It’s a controversy that Johnson has been working desperately to snuff out in recent months on behalf of President Donald Trump, who has called the effort a “Democrat hoax.” Now he will have to decide whether to pull rank and settle a fight that has divided his conference or let the matter play out on the House floor.
Grijalva — who is heavily favored to succeed her late father, Raúl Grijalva, in a district Trump lost by 22 points — said she will be pleased to force the issue. She would be eligible to sign immediately after she is sworn in, likely early next month.
“This is as much about fulfilling Congress’ duty as a constitutional check on this administration as it is about demanding justice for survivors,” she said. “The days of turning a blind eye to Trump must end.”
Grijalva’s signature would complete a process launched by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) after the Epstein controversy exploded over the summer, cornering Republican leaders between Trump and GOP voters who have insisted on transparency in the government’s handling of the abuser.
The discharge petition allows Massie and Khanna to sidestep Johnson, who has instead supported a House Oversight Committee probe into Epstein. It would force a floor vote requiring publication of all Justice Department records related to the sex offender, with limited exceptions to protect victims.
Johnson has options, however. He can seek to block the discharge effort in the Rules Committee, which he nominally controls, but he has faced a string of mutinies there over Epstein in recent weeks. Or he can let the bipartisan Epstein bill proceed to the floor, where it’s very likely to pass, extending the controversy and handing the hot potato to Senate GOP leaders.
Asked last week about the dilemma, Johnson said he wasn’t ready to make a call.
“We haven’t talked about any of that,” he said in a brief interview before leaving the Capitol Friday, adding that the discharge vote was a “moot point.” He referenced a House vote this month that directed the Oversight panel to continue its probe without explicitly requiring the Justice Department to release the files.
“The Oversight Committee is working overtime on this,” Johnson said. “They’re releasing every single page of documents every time they receive one. I mean, it’s all out in the open. It genuinely is a moot point.”
Behind closed doors, Johnson has told Republicans in recent weeks he wouldn’t force the Rules Committee to short-circuit the discharge petition. Johnson and GOP leaders have also acknowledged in private that a floor vote is likely if the petition gets 218 signatures, as POLITICO reported earlier this month.
House Rules Chair Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) also said in a brief interview earlier this month that her panel would not intervene in the discharge petition and block a floor vote on Massie-Khanna bill.
White House operatives have been aware for weeks that the petition was on track to receive the necessary 218 signatures without any additional GOP support, according to two Trump officials granted anonymity to comment on internal dealings. Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.) became the 217th supporter after winning a special election earlier this month. Grijalva’s victory has not been in much doubt.
Trump has stewed over the matter. Earlier this month, he argued on the Truth Social that DOJ “has done its job” and “given everything requested of them,” adding that it’s “time to end the Democrat Epstein Hoax.”
Despite White House pressure, three Republican women — Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), Nancy Mace (S.C.) and Lauren Boebert (Colo.) — have declined to remove their names from the discharge petition. They have cast their decisions to sign as a gesture of support for Epstein’s victims and for transparency.
“These are some of the most courageous women I’ve ever met,” Greene said after meeting some of them earlier this month. “This shouldn’t have been a battle, and unfortunately, it has been one.”
If the bipartisan bill goes to the floor, other House Republicans who didn’t sign onto the discharge effort are expected to join the three women in supporting the measure — possibly many more.
That could ramp up pressure on Senate Republicans to take action, though Majority Leader John Thune has so far beaten back several Democratic efforts to surface the Epstein issue in that chamber. He has declined to say how the Senate might act on the Massie-Khanna measure.
Some Republicans have recognized that burying the issue could be untenable for party leaders.
“I don’t think there’s too many options,” Rep. Riley Moore (R-W.Va.) told reporters when asked about the House discharge petition in late August. “I think you have to take it up, right?”
Nicholas Wu and Jordain Carney contributed to this report.
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