House Republican leaders are under fierce internal pressure to send members home for the summer amid deepening anxiety over a possible vote on the Jeffrey Epstein controversy.
Many GOP lawmakers fear being cornered by an expected “discharge petition” that would force a House vote on publicizing Epstein-related records. Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) launched the effort Tuesday, making it available for signatures and a possible floor vote as soon as next week.
Democrats have already forced Republicans to take tough Epstein-related procedural votes that have stoked a barrage of constituent calls into GOP offices, but they have not yet been able to force a clear up-or-down vote on releasing the so-called Epstein files.
Questions about the late convicted sex predator have exploded inside the GOP since the Justice Department announced earlier this month it had concluded there was no foul play involved in his 2019 death while in federal custody and there is no “client list” of powerful accomplices to be released.
Republicans want to leave town early for several reasons, but senior House Republicans acknowledge the calls for transparency around the Epstein case is becoming a bigger problem for the party.
President Donald Trump’s insistence that the controversy is a “Jeffrey Epstein Hoax” concocted by Democrats — while eviscerating some of his own supporters as “weaklings” who have fallen prey to his political opponents’ “bullshit” — has done little to tamp down the fury.
“It’s all Epstein, all day,” said one frustrated House Republican who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the controversy. “We can’t ignore this.”
The hope, according to more than a dozen GOP members and aides, has been that Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise decide to cancel next week’s scheduled House session and instead send members home for an extended summer recess once voting concludes Thursday or Friday.
The thinking, the members and aides said, is that members won’t have to face questions at home about whether or not they have signed on to the Massie-Khanna effort — and that the issue will have died down by the time members return to Washington in September.
Scalise said Tuesday there are no plans to change the House schedule, which has members staying in Washington through July 24. An aide to the majority leader reiterated Thursday that plan “is not changing.”
Leaving early would spark intense anger from appropriators who are already livid over delays in government funding work ahead of the Sept. 30 shutdown deadline. GOP leaders have discussed changing next week’s schedule, but senior Republican aides acknowledge it would not look good to leave for the traditional August recess in mid-July, with plenty more work to do.
Democrats are expected to create more headaches for the GOP Thursday, by seeking to attach an Epstein-related amendment to the Trump administration’s funding clawbacks package in the House Rules Committee. A similar effort failed earlier this week, but not before one GOP member of the panel broke ranks.
Massie said in an interview he was confident the Epstein issue would remain ripe through the summer. He recalled how conservative hard-liners moved a decade ago to remove former Speaker John Boehner right before the August recess — and then Boehner resigned after members came back in September.
“They probably want to let the steam out, but this will build momentum over August,” Massie said. “They can’t sweep it under the rug.”
The Epstein saga has been a subject of deep fascination for many Trump supporters, who see it as emblematic of a deeply corrupt cabal of political elites preying on vulnerable Americans. Trump, who associated with Epstein in the past and has denied any wrongdoing, discussed the controversy on the campaign trail and pledged to root out any coverup.
But after the Justice Department essentially announced there’s no there there, the pressure broke out into a full crisis this week. Some Republican lawmakers have reported an onslaught of calls from constituents. Others are calling for Epstein accomplices and others to testify before Congress.
Some House Republicans have raised the matter in private floor conversations with party leaders, begging them to do something.
The level of alarm exploded after Massie, a dissident Republican, unveiled his discharge effort with Khanna. It would tee up a floor vote on legislation giving Attorney General Pam Bondi 30 days to release a broad array of files related to Epstein, his onetime girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell and other associates.
Notably, it would provide for the release of investigative files without regard for “[e]mbarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary.”
Under House rules, the measure becomes available for discharge signatures after seven legislative days.
Trump’s effort Wednesday to tamp down the controversy — suggesting his own supporters had “bought into this ‘bullshit,’ hook, line, and sinker” — only triggered more alarm across the GOP conference.
“People are like, ‘What the fuck is the president doing?’” said a second House Republican, also granted anonymity to speak candidly.
The lawmaker added that “people are freaking out” and the issue is “only getting worse.”
Asked by reporters Thursday if he supports using congressional authority to investigate the Epstein matter, Johnson replied, ”Look, we’ll see how it all develops.”
“We’re for transparency. I’ve said that repeatedly, so has the president,” Johnson said. “And all the credible information needs to come out and the American people need to make their own decisions.”
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