WorldPosted at: Sep 16 2026 5:56PM


Epstein Files scandal threatens to make its return as one GOP lawmaker secures almost enough votes to open another vote

Washington, Sep 16 (UNI) The Epstein Files controversy which froze the White House last year last year is threatening to return, with Rep Thomas Massie now just one Republican signature away from securing enough GOP support to force another vote.
Massie, a Kentucky Republican, and South Carolina Republican Nancy Mace are looking for one more Republican to join their new discharge petition seeking a vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act II.
Retiring Rep Ralph Norman of South Carolina signed the petition on Monday, joining Massie and Mace. Massie and Mace told Axios they are now approaching retiring Republicans and members in vulnerable districts in an effort to secure the fourth GOP signature.
Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado, one of four GOP lawmakers who defied President Donald Trump and House leadership to support Massie's first Epstein petition last year, said she was considering signing again and had been speaking with Massie.
The new effort is threatening to revive what was a migraine for the Trump administration, currently in its second term. Last year's discharge petition eventually reached the 218 signatures needed to force a House vote, and the resulting legislation passed with near-unanimous support.
The Epstein Files Transparency Act II would require the Justice Department to release additional records and expand disclosure requirements.
"The Department of Justice continues to unlawfully withhold over 3 million Epstein files that should be released to the public. In addition, the DOJ is unlawfully maintaining heavy redactions on the files it is releasing," Massie said in a statement last month.
There is, however, a timing problem. The House is scheduled to take a break on Thursday and will not return until after the November midterm elections. Even if Massie gets the Republican support he needs this week, any floor fight would therefore come after the election.
Democrats also need to provide enough signatures for the petition to reach the 218 required to force consideration. Democratic leadership is encouraging members to sign, and Massie said he had yet to find a Democrat opposed to the legislation.
Massie and Mace are focusing on Republicans they believe may face fewer political consequences from breaking with Trump.
"I've got one hero slot left," Massie told Axios.
He said he was approaching members in districts where they were "polling 10 points down", arguing that they could either stay off the petition and risk losing or sign it and make transparency part of their re-election campaign.
Mace said she was also "talking to Republicans who are leaving, and some Republican districts that we need to focus in on now".
Boebert could become the fourth Republican to sign, although Massie said he did not expect Republicans who backed the first petition to repeat the move.
"Anybody who did the first one is not obligated to put their head in the guillotine again," he said. "I think it's somebody else's turn."
"Ralph Norman did it. He's a new one, and I think there are other new ones out there that we can get," Massie added.
Massie is also again accusing Johnson of using his control of the House calendar to make it harder to force a vote.
Johnson recently cancelled two of the House's three remaining September workweeks. Massie claimed the decision was intended to prevent him from having enough time to gather support.
"He got a call from somebody that's above his pay grade that said, 'Take those two days off the calendar. Don't you dare give Massie the runway to get that plane off the ground,'" he said.
Johnson had previously called Massie "stupid" for suggesting that the House would add recess time before formally moving to cancel the session weeks, as Massie had predicted.
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